PRESS RELEASE
- Wants disclosure of alleged victims’ identities
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Say masterminds of protest have hidden agenda
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Friday refuted reports that a child and his mother were killed during last Thursday’s demolition illegal structures carried out by its officials at Lungu village located Plot 64 Kafe District near Gwarinpa Estate, Abuja stressing that no report had been obtained from the Police and health institutions in FCT about such deaths.
Addressing a crowded press conference which took place at the Conference Hall of the FCT Minister’s office at Area 11, Garki District, Abuja, the Coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Arc. Reuben Okoya and other top officials of the FCTA challenged those peddling the rumours of death to come up with verifiable proofs.
The officials said the protest has once more exposed the extent some people could go in perpetrating mischief and peddling lies in a bid to blackmail the authorities and perpetrate a hidden agenda. Okoya was supported at the briefing by key officers of the FCT Administration including the Chief of Staff to the FCT Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Yau Gital, the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Administration, Chief Emma Awodu, the Senior Special Assistant (Political Affairs) Senator Usman Jibrin Wowo, the Special Assistant (Media), Mr. Nosike Ogbuenyi, the Director of Development Control, Town Planner Yusuf Yahaya and the Chief Press Secretary to the FCT Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Sule Hazat.
Okoya explained that officials from the Development Control Department carried out demolition exercise 9.00am and 12.50 pm without any incident or complaint of injury or death on the part of any person in the area. He explained that the demolition team completed their work for the day and left the site with their vehicles and equipments without anybody complaining of injury or death.
The Coordinator said it was surprising that over two hours after the demolition exercise some elements started protesting and blocked the ever busy Zuba – Kubwa – City expressway based on unsubstantiated rumuors of death. He regretted that the action of the protesters in blocking the expressway for hours on Thursday subjected innocent motorists to severe inconvenience.
According to him, the FCT Administration is calling for full inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the allegation, even as the Administration believes that the entire story was cooked up even as nobody has so far come up with any picture of the presumed dead child or its mother.
According to Okoya, if the rumuors of the alleged killings were not false, in this age of communication when people video incidents with their handsets, the pictures and full names of the alleged victims would have since gone viral in the social media.
The Director of Development Control, Yahaya Yusuf explained that the processes the Department follows in the removal of illegal structures would not result in deaths. According to him, even after quit notices are given, before any building is demolished, officials normally comb such buildings to ascertain that no human being is inside. They also make sure that the occupants are given fair opportunity to remove their valuables, he added.
“If anybody is inside a building marked for demolition, the demolition exercise is usually stopped because the officials are never authorized to demolish any structure together with any living person, whether sick or healthy, young or old. Therefore, it is unthinkable for anybody to allege that the same FCT Administration that carries out its exercise with human face in compliance with the best standards in of human rights observation could perpetrate the alleged act,” Yusuf pointed out.
The Development Control Director said the first set of notices were served the squatters in the village on 4th March 2014 adding that the houses demolished do not belong to original inhabitants of FCT. He also disclosed that the natives in Lungu village had been compensated by to the tune of N17million while a court injunction restraining the FCTA from demolishing the illegal structures at the village was vacated by the court on May 24, 2014.
Speaking in similar vein as Okoya and Yusuf, the SA Media, Mr. Ogbuenyi appealed to the media to always endeavour to cross their facts before publishing or broadcasting them to avoid misleading unsuspecting members of public.
He said the conflicting reports in the media on the alleged deaths were indicative of the fact that the whole rumuors were cooked up. He cited conflicting reports of five major national newspapers – Leadership, Daily Trust, The Nation, Peoples Daily and ThisDay as proof that the story was false.
Ogbuenyi pointed out that whereas THISDAY reported that a three-year old girl was killed,Peoples Daily alleged that a two-month old baby died while the mother committed suicide. On its part, DAILY TRUST quoted a source as saying a boy was killed during the demolition, The Nation said a mother and her baby died during a demolition exercise. Leadership reported that the mother took a broken bottle and stabbed herself to death while The Nation said the woman stabbed herself to death with a knife. Leadership said the mother was prevented by security officials from entering the house to rescue his son while The Nation claimed that the mother rushed into the same house and took a knife and stabbed herself upon seeing her death child. He further wondered whether a two-month old baby as reported by Peoples Daily or three-year old girl as reported could have returned from school alone and be in the process of changing her school uniform inside the house when the bulldozer pulled the wall down as reported by Leadership.
NOSIKE OGBUENYI
SA Media to the Hon. Minister of FCT
20th June, 2014
