Reactions have continued to trail last week’s demolition of parts of the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja Council, located in Utako, Abuja, by officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA). Although the FCT minister, Senator Bala Mohammed has offered an olive branch to the union, by agreeing to rebuild damaged structures in the premises of the secretariat, as well as compensate all those who were affected by the exercise, the dust raised by the incident will definitely take some time to settle.
Shortly after the incident, a group, Arewa Youths for Peace and Security, came out to condemn the incident, wondering why the officials who carried out the exercise could not even make any consultation with relevant stakeholders before rolling out their bulldozers to pull down the structures.
Spokesman for the group, Salihu Dantata Mahmud, expressed deep displeasure over the incident, emphasising that the demolition amounted to an infringement on the rights of journalists, especially when some journalists were manhandled by law enforcement agencies in the process.
In their reaction, members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), FCT chapter, who were on a condolence visit to the secretariat, asked the FCT administration to immediately compensate the council for the damaged property, as well as tender an apology for taking such an action. Chairman of the chapter, Comrade Abdullahi Yahaya wondered why the demolition exercise was carried out without any form of notification to the union.
LEADERSHIP WEEKEND gathered that on June 29, 2012, the Department of Development Control, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had moved into the premises of the council secretariat to demolish several structures within the area. Structures destroyed during the exercise included the three bush bars, as well as an ongoing building construction.
Also, about six transparent refrigerators, several plastic tables, plastic chairs, a plasma television set, as well as several properties were completely destroyed during the exercise.
Also, some photojournalists who wanted to take photographs of the demolition were beaten up and hospitalised while their cameras were badly damaged.
A further inquiry has informed that the executive of the Abuja Council had earlier written to the Department of Development Control to come and revalidate an earlier plot, which would make it possible for a commercial bank operating in the premises to have an access road to their building.
According to the secretary of the Council, Emma Ogbeche, “The building plan for the commercial bank operating in the premises had earlier elapsed, and so after settling with them through arbitration, we needed to write to the appropriate authorities for revalidation of the existing building plan.”