The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has vowed to demolish any illegal building or structure that is distorting the master plan of the nation’s capital.
In an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Wike said there is no plan to backtrack on his earlier demolition warning to landlords in Abuja.
Recall that after President Bola Tinubu had inaugurated the ministers on August 21, the former Rivers State Governor sent a warning to house owners tampering with the master plan of the capital city.
Wike added that anyone who has developed where they are not supposed to, even if the culprit is a minister or an ambassador, will not be spared during the demolition exercise.
Speaking further on Wednesday, the minister lamented that there are rising numbers of uncompleted projects in the city and people taking over the green areas to trade.
He stated: “We normally give notice. Take, for example, what just happened at Asokoro, which is a green area. In fact, I was informed by the building control that they had been trying to take them away, sentiments of this and that.
“This is the problem we have, you see people trading, and the government comes to say, ‘you can’t do this’. Now they go to meet civil society, human rights this – that they have nowhere to stay, they are suffering, economic hardship – that is rubbish.”
The minister maintained that the demolition notice and warning will not be business as usual for residents of the FCT.
He added: “What we have done was to give them notice, and they’ve left because it will not be business as usual. Where they will say it is a normal government threat that nothing will happen, they know something will happen, and they have moved.”
