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I WAS with pain looking how bulldozer bull dozed our house my dad loaned money to build. It was unbelievable and many Nigerian who witnessed the drastic way the FCT demolition officers backed by armed police men rendered so many people homeless, jobless and sent many families back to their villages. Cases of broken families and untimely death of some in course of traveling out of Abuja , even though someone is denying that it never happened because no autopsy has been done on them. Do we need autopsy to check moral decadence for example?

The ongoing public hearing on FCT administration reminded me of my ordeal which I have since push over to face life. Many Nigerians wouldn’t like to remember the pains and anguish they went through during that era of blatant disregard and abuse of justice and rule of law by Nigerians who were ordinarily suppose to serve their fellow Nigerian. No right thinking person is against the removal of undue structure to restore a plan (master plan) but when it is done without human face it posed a big question, which indirectly made Nigerians refugees in their own country.

Probe is very important in every human activity, unlike Nigerian’s perception of probe. Probe is not necessarily negative in most time is of positive because it correct an anomaly, redirect the system and bestow confident on a procedure for other people to follow which in good turn will help the society. The distortion in Abuja master plan was not ordinarily done by residents but by the failure of fct officers who failed to monitor and control the implementation of the master plan hence resulting to people building on sewage, public open places and other places not earmarked for such building, even in some cases allocation were given to them by the same fct officers and demolition carried out without compensation. Some weeks ago during the public hearing, Utako traders narrated their own story on how they were paying money to AMAC for their shops but still, some of their shops were still demolished by former fct minister. well, just like the minister admitted, may be he acted on ignorant base on what his men told him at that point in time.

The lackluster attitude of some individual developers coupled with lack of adequate control by the official lead to irrational utilization of land and development of slummy environment. The question is? What will you expect in a nation that refuses to indulge in effective welfare scheme or programme for its citizen. The citizen will continue to put-up illegal structures on the roads side or any where to make out a living out of this troubling life. The polity no doubt has produced some stage of contraction and anomaly particularly in the revelations many Nigerians are making in the ongoing fct administration public hearing, that a nation dogged by shortage of residential accommodation for it teeming population will demolish indiscriminately in some cases peoples properties, change land ownership over night without blemish which they are now denying with a reason.

This piece ordinarily is not meant to condemn all the activities of the past fct administrations because the contraventions were not created by the present administration but the manner in which the demolition was carried out without human face. No doubt why Abba Gana decided not to embark on any demolition. Just like what Nigerians have said, the legislature through several public hearing like power sector, the fct and the expected NNPC probe will provide Nigerians an avenue to be heard and air their feelings without fear and also know the happenings in such sectors. It will no doubt engender confident in our legislature and make us matured in our democratic life. Having said so, I’m particularly proud of the activities and moves by our legislature lately but not those that jump fence instead of stand firm. I must in a special way thank the senate committee for creating the forum for Nigerians to know really that some of them were wrongfully ejected and their structures ignorantly demolished it shows responsibility on the part of the legislature which Nigerians will never forget.

IKE wrote in from Abuja

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