Media reported on February 16, 2024, that the Nigerian Navy put a signpost at the Iddo community of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to claim the ownership of the landed property in the area.
Hundreds of people of the Iddo Community in Abuja on Monday took to the streets in protest over eviction notice to the entire community and threats to demolish their properties by the Nigerian Navy.
Media reported on February 16, 2024, that the Nigerian Navy put a signpost at the Iddo community of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to claim the ownership of the landed property in the area.
A source in the community had revealed this to SaharaReporters, adding that the Navy has also put everything in place to demolish houses and buildings in the community.
Iddo community is a residential area which houses hundreds of students of the University of Abuja.
“This Land Belongs To The Nigerian Navy. Pack And Leave. All Properties Here Will Be Demolished Soon. Notice Served On 12/02/2024,” the inscription on the signpost read as seen in a picture obtained.
Media had also reported how the Nigerian Army and the police brutally evicted the residents of this community, majorly UNIABUJA students from their houses for demolition without prior notice in 2021.
However, the residents and indigenes of the community took to the streets with placards calling on President Bola Tinubu and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike for their intervention.
The residents who decried the plans to evict them from their ancestor homes wondered where the Nigerian Navy wanted them to relocate to.
The residents who converged as early as 9 am at Junior Secondary School in Iddo matched through the streets with placards with inscriptions – “Enough Of Killing Of FCT Indigenous People Over Our Land!”. “Nigerian Armed Forces Give Us Our Land.” “Stop Demolition Now! Nigerian Navy.” “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu & Barr. Nyesom Wike Minister of Federal Capital Territory the father of fatherless, save us from forceful ejections from our community and ancestral Land Iddo Sarki by Nigerian Navy.”
The community described as illegal and inhumane the threats of demotion of their community with all their properties by the Nigerian Navy. They noted that Iddo existed before Nigeria and the coming of FCT. “Are we no longer Nigeria that Nigerian Navy will issue them with an eviction notice?” leader of the community, Ibrahim Jagaba questioned while addressing journalists.
In a statement issued at the end of the protest that lasted for hours, the community stated: “A signpost was erected by the Nigerian Navy at Iddo Junction earlier this year asking us to “Pack and leave” that they are “coming to demolish soon” because our homes will be demolished soon, and we condemn this move by the Nigerian Navy vehemently.
“This move is not only inhumane and illegal, but it is also dangerous to the peace of the Iddo community and the Federal Capital Territory. This is because it can incite peaceful occupants of the community to violence despite the fact that we are peace-loving people.
“It is also illegal not only because the land belongs to our people, but also because the Nigerian Navy does not have the legal right to take over any land in Nigeria. Even the Federal Government of Nigeria is required to compensate or relocate residents if it wants to allocate the Iddo land for anything. We wish to state that the Nigerian Navy does not have the constitutional right to demolish any land. They are only an agency in the government.
“There are claims that it was the Federal Government through the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) that allocated the land belonging to our people to the Nigerian Navy and the allocation is captured in the blueprint of the FCT. This claim is also a huge lie. There was no time that the Federal Government went through the legal process of compensation and relocation with our people, and therefore it is illegal for the Federal Government to lay any claim to our land. If there is any blueprint that allocates our land to anybody, we believe that the blueprint is not greater than the constitution and it can be amended to reflect what is just and what is right.
“We demand that the City plan for the FCT should be updated to reflect the needs of the people of the city. This includes the needs of the people of Iddo including indigenes like us and the business and student community that we host. It is important to note that we the people of iddo have accommodated the largest percentage of the student community of the University of Abuja since they have moved to the permanent site at the Airport road. This is the community that is being threatened with demolition.
“We have hosted workers at the country’s Airport close to us and these are the people being threatened with a demolition. We have hosted a thriving business community worth tens and hundreds of millions of Naira, yet we are being threatened with demolition. The Iddo community has its own police headquarters, government school, and health centre to show that we are a legitimate constituency under the law. We believe that these are needs that any valid City plan must capture before it can be relevant for nation-building.
“As peace-loving people, we call on the Nigerian government to call its agency, the Nigerian Navy to order to stop encroaching and trespassing on our farmlands, to stop fencing our community, and to stop threatening us with demolition. We are issuing a seven-day ultimatum to the Nigerian Navy to cease the encroachment and remove their signpost threatening our people with demolition.
“If this is not done in Seven days, we the youth of Iddo are very capable of mobilizing the whole community, including students and workers for a larger protest action that will shut down the road into the Federal airport and shut down the country for days until we are satisfied and our grievances are resolved. We are urging the trespassers, the Nigerian Navy, to not test our patience and peacefulness. We believe it is the job of the government to provide free housing for the citizens of Nigeria and if we are not disturbing the government to provide housing for us but we are providing for ourselves, we demand to be left alone in peace. We do not believe an agency of such government has a moral right to threaten us with demolition.”
The community however demanded as follows:
“An end to the encroachment on the farmlands of the people of Iddo by the Nigerian Navy.
An end to the fencing of Iddo community by the Nigerian Navy for demolition.
An end to the threat of demolition represented in the removal of the Notice signpost of the Nigerian Navy at Iddo Junction.”
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