Natives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria, under the aegis of Coalition of Abuja Indigenous Association (CAIA) have told the Nigeria Army that they will not quit from their land, situated between Airport Road and Zuba.

Addressing a press conference at Tugan-Maje yesterday, while reacting to a quit notice purportedly issued by the Nigeria Army to the affected communities, the spokesman of the group, Yunusa Ahmadu Yusuf, said the natives have no other place to go and so were staying put on their ancestral homes.

He said the Nigerian Army had on 12th July, 2019, issued a quit notice urging all the communities along the airport road down to Zuba, to quit on or before 3rd August, 2019, alleging that the Army would use its power to take over the land, in an event of refusal by the communities to comply with the notice within the stated time line.

He said despite the natives have filed a petition to the National Assembly against the invasion of their land which prompted the Senate to constitute an adhoc committee on the matter, the Nigeria Army has continued to occupy the land.

According to him, it was necessary to curb a possible total breakdown of law and order in the FCT, which he said could be ignited by the Nigeria army, saying “because the FCT natives will never fold their hands and watch Nigeria army eject them forcefully from their ancestral land.” He added, “We, therefore, beckon the National Assembly being the house of assembly for the people of the FCT to prevail on the Nigerian Army to steer clear from our ancestral land and obey the resolution of the National Assembly, presidential committee and the intervention of the vice president.

“The natives lamented over continued protests by members of the Islamic movement identified as Shi’ite in the street of Abuja, saying the Shi’ite members were constituting nuisance in the city of Abuja.

“It is clear that the recent protest, by Shi’ite members is constituting nuisance in our nation’s capital and we can no longer tolerate them since the government has failed to take decisive steps to tackle them for reasons best known to various security agents,” he said. (Daily Trust)

Update news