Community appeals to minister to halt demolition
Etsu of Pasali, a community in Kuje Area Council, Malam Usman Sule Yusuf, has appealed to the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Muhammad, to divert the proposed railway line billed to pass through the community to another area.
According to the monarch, the rail line, if allowed to pass through the community, would affect about 200,000 buildings and render many residents homeless.
Malam Usman, who spoke to City News, Wednesday, at his palace, said about 45 houses were already demolished by the authorities. He said he has written to the Senate, through the Senate President, the House of Representatives, through the Chairman, House Committee on FCT area councils and auxiliary matters, Ibrahim, Ebbo, FCT Development Control and the Gomo of Kuje, Alhaji Haruna Tanko Jibrin on the matter, adding that he was still awaiting their responses.
He said that he also wrote to the National Human Rights Commission, which came to assess the demolition exercise and promised to handle the matter, lamenting that he has not heard from the commission since then.
The community chief said that those whose houses were demolished have been forced to squat with friends and families, adding that their children have stopped going to school since the demolition took place.
The Etsu called on the minister to come to the aid of the victims and compensate them in order to ease their sufferings.
It would be recalled that on the November 26 and 28, 2013, the FCT authorities embarked on a demolition exercise in Pasali area and its environs.