The UTC Shopping Complex, which was located in Area 10 in the Garki neighborhood of Abuja, was destroyed on Saturday by the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
The Joint Task Force of the FCTA, according to business owners, attacked the area early on Saturday, preventing them from removing valuables from their stores ahead of the demolition.
They claimed that despite receiving instructions to relocate to the other complex supplied, which they said had not yet been finished and could not hold the more than 480 stores in the now-demolished complex, they had not been given any warning of the demolition.
While the majority say they received no notice of the impending demolition, one John Sunday admits the FCTA had sent a notice earlier in the year but says the shop owners had relaxed since the matter of the ordered move was still being contested in court.
“Yes, we were given notice earlier this year that they were coming. But the whole matter is still in court, according to what our leaders in the complex told us. So we just had hopes that it was a fifty-fifty situation; we didn’t think it would happen this way. So perhaps the case had been settled in court without us knowing”.
Another shop owner, Yusuf Adebayo, insisted they were not notified at all, adding that “I’m not aware of that”.
He further said that the new shops provided had not been fitted with amenities such as electricity, despite the fact that about 300 shop owners had already paid about N250,000 each for the shops.
“They asked us to relocate to the other side, and that place they are trying to take us to, they have not done anything. No lights, no proper arrangements for people to move in there. People have already paid. They said they should pay. I think they are paying about N250,000 for each shop. And about 300 shop owners have paid already, and nothing has been done properly,”he said.
Federal Ministry Of Works Building, Others Locked Up By FCTA In Abuja
Meanwhile, a salesgirl, who declined to be named in this report, alleged that security agents who accompanied the demolition team shot tear gas into the air to disperse the protesting shop owners and arrested another man.
“We came here this morning; they blocked everywhere; they did not allow us to enter. So there was even a man who was trying to speak up that they should allow us to carry our things, but they arrested him, and even the person that went to plead for him was arrested.
“They were spraying tear gas, they beat him up as if he were a child. Even me too, I ran there to go and carry some things; they sprayed tear gas inside that place; they wanted to kill people with tear gas, that policeman was even threatening to shoot us”.
Efforts to reach the FCTA Director of Monitoring, Inspection and Evaluation, Attah Ikharo, to comment on the issue have however proved abortive, as he did not respond to phone calls by our correspondent, as of the time of filing this report.
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