All presidential aspirants and political parties with offices within the residential areas and diplomatic zones, have been asked by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), to vacate such buildings, ahead of party primaries for the 2019 elections.
This was contained in a notice signed by Umaru Shuaib, coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC).
The affected aspirants were reportedly given a month deadline from July 9.
Ibrahim Shekarau, former Governor of Kano state; Sule Lamido, former Governor of Jigawa state and Jerry Gana, former Minister of Information are some of the politicians affected by the directive.
While some of the affected parties have expressed willingness to abide by the directive, others have condemned the move as “ill-timed and sheer intolerance of the opposition” by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking on behalf of the Tanimu Kabiru Turaki Campaign Organisation, Sola Atere, director of media and publicity, said the directive is an “attempt to intimidate the opposition”.
“There was no prior discussion; neither was there any notification nor letter given to us. Yet, we have been paying statutory bills to Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) and FCT Water Board and they have been collecting and sending bills since we started using the premises in February this year,” the newspaper quoted him to have said.
“The building was being used for commercial purposes before we came in. We are even neighbours to a federal government agency, Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation. Why have they neglected to enforce their regulations in places such as Gwarinpa residential estate where houses on major avenues have been converted to malls in many cases?
“There is this perception that it is an attempt to intimidate the opposition.”
Alfa Mohammed, national publicity secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said: “Such a notice is mischievous and sheer intolerance of the opposition. The FCTA never gave such a directive in the past but why now?
“At a critical time when the 2019 poll is about four to five months away, you don’t begin to introduce a policy to drive parties underground.
“We know that if a party is the target, many parties can be sacrificed to reach a target.” (DAILY POST)
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