By Daniel Tyokua
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has demolished an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp turned to criminals’ hideout at Durumi in Abuja.
The camp is reported to be an arena for notorious activities by the IDPs also full of unauthorized structures.
During the demolition, yesterday, the Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Engr Shehu Ahmad, revealed that the supposed IDP Camp is a dual carriage road corridor with a rail modal.
According to him, “If most of them are not IDPs then this is a straight forward issue and definitely not allocated because these are slums, we are talking about . Then where are they coming from, and how did they get this location?
“Beside this is a planned road corridor and a transit way of inner southern transit way, that is suppose to convey dual transportation, dedicated bus line and rail median but these have been taken over by hoodlums, shanties , you can imagine the kind of criminalities going on here.
“From the outlook, we have here they are not into any meaningful employment or serious activities They constitute nuisances not only to the neighborhood but to the entire city. We will continue to sustain this operation to rid the city of unruly behaviour” .
Ahmad noted that those that were arrested with hard drugs and others, during the operation would be handed over to the Police for further investigation.
To the property owners, the FCDA boss, said for the road corridor, “it would be cleared and put in use for the general public and property owners should develop or risk revocation”.
Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Ikharo Attah, who led the team, lamented the extreme criminality perpetrated in the area.
He said, “This is an operation that has long been a discussion point in the security committee meetings since March till today, the extreme criminality in areas like Garki, Durumi and Gudu were all traced to this area here, partly by some dangerous criminals that claimed to be IDP but they are not.
“It is really very disturbing that the area has so badly degenerated that’s the road corridors have been built upon, we saw tent before now we thought belong to IDP later we saw more shanties then we saw block structures that they said they bought from squatters , some people are even claiming to be Sarki of the area. It is really worrisome and the Minister have directed that this area must be cleared as soon as possible”.
