Natives and residents of Iddo-Sarki community along Airport Road, Abuja, were gripped with panic following the mounting of demolition signposts by the Nigerian Navy (NN) in the area.
City & Crime which visited the community observed that the signposts had an inscription which read: “This land belongs to the Nigerian Navy, Park and leave. All property here will be demolished soon. Notice served on 12-02-2024.”
The Village Head of Iddo-Sarki, Bello Adamu Sarki, who conducted the Commissioner for Public Complaints Commission (PCC) representing the FCT, Ezekiel Musa Dalhatu, alongside newsmen, round the places where the demolition signposts were mounted, said there was never a time the authorities of the navy served any notice to him or any of his aides intimating him of coming to mount signposts; describing such action as a deliberate act to move his people from their ancestral homes.
He, therefore, appealed to the PCC commissioner to as a matter of urgency wade into the matter in order to ensure justice was done for the natives of the community.
The PCC Commissioner, Dalhatu, while addressing newsmen, said it was despicable and mind-blowing for the navy to mount signposts with such an inscription asking the natives to vacate their ancestral homes that had been existing for decades.
He noted that, “There are laid down procedures through which government takes over ancestral lands of the natives, which is done through resettlement and compensation, but for the Nigerian Navy to just come and mount signposts asking natives to start moving out of their ancestral homes without delay is not proper.”
He said the commission would formally write to the FCT Minister, Nyemso Wike, who was the custodian of all lands in the FCT, to inform him of the situation, even as he urged the residents of Iddo-Sarki to remain calm and go about their activities peacefully without taking the law into their hands.
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