By Kingsley Madaki
Federal Capital Territory Administration FCTA, on Tuesday commenced the demolition of areas suspected to be a den of scavengers in Kubwa axis of Bwari area council.
The FCT Minister Taskforce Team, led by Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to FCT Minister, Ikharo Attah, and Leader of the joint security team, CSP Solomon Adebayo, while speaking to journalists during the exercise, described the activities around the area as a security problem.
Attah said residents complain of frequent attacks attacks as from 6pm in the area, which is by Kubwa train station,
According to Attah “We came here to actually address security problems, we came here with the full support and the directive of the FCT Minister Malam Muhammad Bello and Commissioner of Police Sunday Babaje to actually tackle the issue of miscreants and babanbola to reck havoc on persons in FCT, this is the connecting area between Kubwa and Biazhin and there is so much cases of report here from this rail corridor and rail station that many person cannot even pass after 6pm, you dare not pass this area after 6pm,many persons have been robbed and stabbed with knife and other dangerous weapons and dispossesses them of their belongings here.
“Machines cannot get to that stretch so we had to set the shanties and bachers on fire.
From what we gathered some drugs that are being sold around here, were found and were being handled by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA, personnel.
“I can’t really quantify the number of shanties but my desire is to sack the shanties and free this area of all criminal elements .
“The residents were jubilating even though they were scared to show their faces to journalists. They were so happy because most of those boys scale the fence of the estate around here and rob them without being challenged”.
On sustainability he said, “We are going to come back and we will keep coming and keep coming until they give up on this location.
“We came here last year. It was densely populated by barchers and what we see today is about 40% of what we removed last year . If they come again we will be waiting for them. What is important is sustainability and when the government keeps doing the job and the Minister and Commissioner of Police has given us the mandate to go after bababola in Abuja. Most of the things we covered are daggers, attack knives, light weapons etc.
“They even extend their bachers close to the train tracks”.
A resident of the area who identified himself as Mr Mark Ulogwu, said he was once attacked by the scavenger, saying he was very happy that the shanties were demolished.
He said, “I have been living here since 1989, I am very happy about the demolition of this shanties. In this town this is the kind of place criminals hide. The FCT needs to be coming back to keep checking the place because I am sure once;they move out in the next two or three months, they will come back to this place.
“I am sure if they are doing their businesses quietly, I don’t think the government would have sacked them. I believe they came based on things that have happened around here. I, personally, was attacked on this spot and the okada man abandoned me. I was robbed, they collected all my valuables and I was beaten seriously.
“In order to make sure they don’t come back the administration can put fence like babwire or something to stop them from coming back” He said.
