Residents of Ruga along the Airport Road Abuja took to the streets Friday to protest the demolition of their homes by Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike.
The protest was led by social media activists Martins Otse a.k.a VeryDarkMan and Human Rights advocate Deji Adeyanju.
The demolitions dubbed “Operation Sweep” by Mr. Wike is geared towards ridding the FCT of illegal structures, but according to VDM and Mr. Adeyanju many people have lost their homes built with their hard-earned money.
“There is no justification for this demolition. We are using this medium to appeal to the president to consider the plight of the displaced residents, who are barely surviving,” said Adeyanju.
“Most of the residents here were forced out of their homes in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe due to insecurity.
“Most of them are artisans trying to make a living. These demolitions are excessive, and Mr President needs to act to prevent further harassment of the people.”
VDM commenting on the exercise said: “Dear Nyesom Wike the minister of FCT this is pure wickedness and inhumane to force over 10 thousand people out of their settlement with gunshots fired at them leaving women and children homeless without shelter and without hope in an economy where even the elites are complaining of hardship.
“We are leaving in a desperate time people can barely even feed and now you have put them in a condition where they will have to sleep in the cold, no bed, no roof over their heads, please stop their demolition now or better create housing for them relocate them and compensate them, your elite friends can then enjoy the lands but leaving them like this will definitely put us in a tight state of insecurity.”
