A community in Lugbe on Tuesday raised alarm over the activities of land grabbers who have invaded some estates in the area.
The residents particularly lamented the way and manner the land grabbers were buying and developing structures on property that were meant for public use.
A resident, Toyin, listed some of the lands being taken over by the grabbers to include those that belong to the police, fire service and NIPOST, as well as a land that was meant for a city hall.
.Another resident, Udoh, said, “I reside in CRD Estate, Lugbe, and in this place we have a land that is meant for public infrastructure that belong to the government that have been fenced by an individual and he is ready to sell off this land.’’
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On the removal of contraventions in the community, Udoh insisted that most of the buildings had approval but that they were shocked to learn that their approvals were fake.
He explained that, “Though the buildings were marked, we went to Development Control to rectify them. FCTA should help us, we pay tax and we are the ones that spent our money to put the infrastructure in place here.”
It would be recalled that the FCT Director of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima, few weeks ago, decried the proliferation of illegal housing estates and other developments along Idu Train Station, Apo Tapi and Lugbe areas within the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
He said the alarm became necessary due to the rising adverts on social media by land grabbers and illegal developers of housing estates.
Reacting, the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Ikharo Attah, said, “Today, we saw some shocking revelations here. When the Director of Development Control, Muktar Galadima, raised an alarm over the activities of land grabbers in Lugbe some few weeks ago, we never really understood the gravity of the ways the grabbers have gone.
‘’But today we now know how far they have gone as the whole community in Lugbe has cried out that land meant for the police, fire service, post office, town hall, have all been taken over by a single individual who fenced it and partitioned them ready to start selling.
‘’A few days ago, we went to Durumi to reclaim land that belongs to the police in a place called Monkey Village. Now I think the land grabbers are going into dangerous terrains, targeting government-owned facilities, which I know the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, will not accept.”
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