Residents of the Ruga community in Abuja, where over 10,000 persons have been allegedly displaced in the ongoing demolition of ‘illegal’ structures by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, have lamented their poor living conditions in the wake of the crisis.
In a 10-minute trending video posted on X by social media activist, VeryDarkMan @Coolverydarkma late Friday, the displaced residents of the community, including crying children were seen calling on the FCT minister, to rescind his decision which has rendered them homeless.
According to some of the residents who spoke in the video, they have inhabited the land for over 37 years and have built their livelihood there before the demolition exercise. “We have been here for 37 years. Since the time of Nasir El-Rufai, government has been trying to steal this land but they have not been successful. This is the most brazen assault we have faced. We have been here even before most of the development here took place.
They pushed us from the stadium side to this place. If they remove us from here, where will we go?”, one of the elderly men affected in the exercise told newsmen in Hausa. Lending his voice to their plight, VeryDarkMan called on Wike and President Tinubu to halt the demolition in the interest of the poor community.