By Stanley Onyekwere
Following the clear directive from Tuesday’s security meeting of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to rid Abuja of shanties and other nefarious activities purportedly scaling up the crime rate, some strategic relevant authorities yesterday stormed the streets and raided some identified notorious spots within the city.
It was observed that FCTA officials drawn from FCT Security Service Department and Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS) in a joint operation mainly led by the one of city managers- the Department of Development Control, combed and removed some shanties within the city centre. Thereby, causing eruption of anxiety among inhabitants of squatter settlements in the city.
The FCTA officials with their bulldozers , backed by a joint security operatives raided and ransacked corridors of the Inner Northern Expressway ( that is the road connecting Wuse District and the Central Business District) having shanties, which allegedly provided cover for suspected miscreants, posing serious daily security threats to the city.
Also, they recovered dangerous weapons from suspected criminals and impounded about twenty vehicles in Wuse Zone 3, Abuja.
Explaining the exercise, Director, Department of Development Control (DDC), Mukhtar Galadima said they were able to clear the menace, and even to chased some of the people of the questionable characters from the area.
Galadima said the exercise is a continuous action, as there would a mop-up exercise, to ensure that the dislodged miscreants never returns to any location raided.
He adds: “In the process of sanitizing the city, some people will claim that we have infringed on their rights, whereas we have to make the city secured and cleaner. So that is the essence of the exercise.”
He noted that those dislodged have been residing illegally, so there is nothing the government can do, but to chase them out of the place, as it has been designated for another use.
“In the plan of Abuja, where we are standing now is a proposed road corridor that has been designated as the Inner Northern Expressway just like what we have as Goodluck-Ebele Jonathan Expressway.
“So, this is the mirror of it in the northern sector. Following the recent directive, unlike before where we just clear and move on, now every time we clear we are going to commit it to a particular thing. We are going to take possession of that particular space.
“The place has been statutorily allocated, the owners will soon take possession of those spaces that have been demarcated.
“It’s part of the administration policy that people should develop their plots within the shortest possible time. So, I believe the owners of the plots will soon start developing their property”, he stated.
Also speaking, Director, Department of Security Services, Adamu Gwary, disclosed that there was sufficient intelligence report of the place was serving as a notorious hideout for criminals.
Gwary, who spoke through Dr. Peter Olumuji, while displaying some of the dangerous weapons recovered from the area, said: “If you look at some of these machetes I am holding here, these are the weapons most of these criminal elements who hibernate in this particular axis, normally use to attack unsuspecting passers-by and motoring public.
“From here they can go towards the National Mosque bridge and they can also access the Zone 1 bridge. So most of those complaints from the public or passers-by of being attacked are done by these miscreants in this area.
“When they attack, they do not only collect their valuables, they also go ahead to machete them with these machetes. Evidences abound in the various police posts around here.”
On her part, DRTS Head of Operations, Deborah Osho, revealed that about 20 vehicles were impounded during the exercise.
Osho stated that some of the impounded vehicles were discovered to have been used for “one-chance” operation.
She added that the vehicles would be properly documented and their owners made to pay heavy fines before retrieving them.
