Demolition Threat: CRD Lugbe Residents Beg Tinubu, Wike

• Stop FCDA’s plan of destroying our homes, reallocating lands to cronies

BY EDMOND ODOK – It is not the best of times for residents and property owners in the Committee on Resettlement and Development Layout, popularly called CRD, in the Lugbe area of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and they are begging President Bola Tinubu and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike to urgently come to their rescue in these hard times.

In their cry for help, the residents want immediate intervention that would save them from threats by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to demolish their homes and reallocate their lands to private estate developers in the nation’s capital.

The disturbed residents conveyed their passionate plea in a “Save Our Souls” petition sent to several government authorities, including the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the National Assembly (NASS) and the Department of State Security (DSS), FCT Command.

In the petition, they complained of being subjected to incessant harassment and threats by officials of FCDA’s Development Control Department (DCD), working in connivance with the River Park Estate developer, to demolish their property and take over the land located along Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport Road in the FCT.

According to the petition, on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, some of them returned from work to find demolition notices pasted on their buildings by persons claiming to be DCD officials, and in the said notices, affected house owners were informed that their properties have been marked for demolition within 21 days to make way for a Central Market in the area.

The distressing notices read; “Demolition Notice. Plot No. Central Market (3785). District: Lugbe North. Cadastral Zone: E25. The Authority observed with dismay that the development or structure on plot … is defective and constitutes danger or nuisance to the public/adjoining plot.

“Take notice that you are given 21 days to comply by pulling down the structure or have the illegal development demolished in accordance with Section 61 of the Nigeria Urban and Regional Planning Act 1992.”

The residents expressed surprise that the Layout, which has been in existence since 1996 with fully developed properties, would suddenly be converted into a general market without the knowledge of residents and land owners.

Blaming the problem on the unholy connivance of some FCDA officials through the DCD with a private estate developer, one Paul Odili to harass, intimidate, and illegally dispossess them of their properties, the resident urged President Tinubu and the FCT Minister to immediately wade into the simmering situation to avoid it imploding and resulting in avoidable multi-dimensional crises.

The residents alleged since 2014, Mr Odili, through his firms, Houses for Africa Nigeria Limited; Jonah Nigeria Limited, and Paulo Homes Limited in River Park Estate, has continued to wage illegal wars of conquest to achieve territorial expansion of his allocation into CRD land area, adding; “CRD layout, covering a land area of about 474 hectares, was created in 1996 by the FCDA to relocate and resettle persons affected by the dualization and expansion of the Airport Road within the Lugbe 1 area.”

Chairman of the CRD Residents and Landlords Association, Abdulwasiu Mustapha, said in the petition that; “Most of the lands in the CRD Layout were legally acquired from the FCDA. The layout was comprehensively designed with various infrastructures, including schools, hospitals, markets, town halls, recreational facilities, religious places of worship, a Police post, and other public institutions, etc.

“The area in contention, CRD Lugbe 1 Layout is identified in the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) as Plot No. 0235, where land titles owners have fully developed and occupied since 1996.”

Forefront News checks at the FCDA indicate that Odili and his private estate firms, allocated part of the CRD area by the El-Rufai administration in 2017, have moved on to acquire almost half of the area.

Further stating their pains at the current development, the residents said; “Our lands were given to Paul Odili without due process of law or revocation of existing titles in clear violation of the rights of the property owners. Since then, our lives have been a living hell. This man has deployed all known means to forcefully sack us from our lands. He has deployed security agencies to constantly, harass, intimidate, threaten, arrest, and detain our people without any lawful excuse.

“He has demolished our homes, barricaded our roads, dug trenches around our houses, and fenced our community in without outlets to the rest of the world. We have written to virtually all public institutions for intervention without success. We have sought reprieve from the courts, but he has ignored every restraining court order without any consequence.

“Today, we are still in court with him, even as some of our people have obtained judgments against him, both at the High Court and Court of Appeal without abating his threats and harassment. We want the President and the FCT Minister to wade in and save us”

It was further gathered that arising from the latest assault by the FCDA on February 7, 2024, the residents met with the Director of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima, the next day to seek clarification on the action and the Residents Association Chairman expressed surprise that his (Galadima) promise of convening all stakeholders’ meeting to discuss the issues has not yet materialized several days after.

Mustapha said residents who attended the meeting with Mr Galadima were surprised that instead of addressing the areas of breaches of the extant laws regarding building designs and structures, he claimed the CRD community has been re-designed, and that most of the fully-developed houses and structures fell within the road corridors and a central market.

Accusing Galadima of failing to produce the purported re-designed CRD layout, or indicating when the redesign was effected without the residents’ knowledge, Mustapha said it is also disappointing that the DCD boss was not able to identify the beginning of the road infrastructure and its point of termination.

The residents, who claimed to have lost confidence and trust in the Director’s handling of the matter, said; “We suspect he is playing the familiar script and antics of Mr. Paul Odili with the evil intention of dispossessing us of our valued properties. There is no way an important action such as redesigning CRD would be done fairly without the involvement of the existing residents since 1996.

Explaining that most CRD community’s residents are public and civil servants as well as pensioners who used their meager life savings to raise shelter for their families, Mustapha said; “We will resist every attempt to render us homeless and turn us into refugees in our country”.