FCT Residents Demand Halt To Demolitions, Call For Full Statehood

A coalition of indigenous groups and residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has issued a strong appeal to the FCT Administration, led by Nyesom Wike, to halt forceful property demolitions in the new year.

The coalition emphasized that public interest projects must not come at the cost of citizens’ fundamental rights to shelter and dignity.

The Senior Citizens Forum of the FCT made these demands during a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.

The group, representing both natives and non-natives who have built lives in the nation’s capital, decried the recent spate of demolitions, describing them as “inhumane and unconstitutional.”

Elder Danjuma Tanko Dara, the Coordinator of the Forum, noted that while development is welcome, it must follow due process, compassion, and strict adherence to laws governing land acquisition and compensation.

“The New Year must bring a new way of operating. We call on the Honourable Minister, Chief Nyesom Wike, to immediately halt the use of brute force in demolishing houses belonging to natives and non-natives residing in the FCT,” Dara said.

“Even where the administration intends to execute a public interest project, necessary compensation and resettlement must be conclusively handled before any bulldozer is moved to the site. Our people are rendered homeless overnight; their lifetime investments are destroyed in minutes. This is being done to Nigerians, in Nigeria’s capital, as if they are not citizens of this country.”

The group observed that the use of force has increasingly caused hardship and significant economic waste due to “uncivilized approaches.”

They argued that the Land Use Act and the FCT Act provide clear mandates for compensation and resettlement—provisions they claim are being blatantly ignored.

The briefing also escalated a long-standing political demand, the establishment of full democratic state structures for the FCT.

The groups argued that the current ministerial administration, which lacks a democratically elected governor and state assembly, is inherently unaccountable to the residents.

“The root of this impunity is the anomalous governance structure of the FCT,” Dara noted. “We demand that a full democratic state structure be established. Let us have our elected Governor, our State Assembly, and our local government councils. When this is done, everything will be handled through due process and public accountability, as it is in every other state of Nigeria.” (Daily trust)