A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has knocked the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) over its planned demolition of more than 60 houses in the Trademore Estate in the Lugbe area of Abuja.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the plan to demolish the estate after its development plan was approved by the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) as far back as 2004 makes the whole demolition agenda a nullity.

The group said in the statement issued on Sunday that the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Olusade Adesola, must immediately stop all plans to demolish the approved estate and add to the poll of 28 million Nigerians lacking access to decent and affordable housing, according to estimates by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria.

The group also expressed concerns over the recurring collapse of buildings within Abuja, saying the latest collapse of a building in the Lifecamp area of Abuja again reinforces the fact that the FCTA officials were grossly indulging in compromise.

Residents of Trademore Estate had last week protested and petitioned the FCTA Permanent Secretary through their lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), over the planned demolition of 60 houses in the residential estate.

The residents debunked insinuations that the estate has no development plan approval. They said the estate was developed in 2007 and no case of flooding was recorded until recently.

They also said the developer of the estate was properly allocated the land containing the estate and that he duly sought for and obtained Development Plan Approval for the development of the estate, building over 700 units of houses, through huge bank loans.

HURIWA stated: “The planned demolition of the Trademore Estate by the FCTA is an anomaly that should never stand, not after the estate was approved by the same Administration nearly 20 years ago.

“The remote and immediate causes of the flooding can be dealt with by town planners within the FCTA without bringing down the roof of hundreds of home owners whose houses were authentically and originally approved by the FCTA. The planned injustice all in the name of demolition must stop immediately.”

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