From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory Administration, on Tuesday, began the removal of shanties and barchers, built by street urchins in Kubwa.
FCT Minister Taskforce Team, led by Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to FCT Minister, Attah Ikharo and leader of the joint security team, CSP Solomon Adebayo, carried out the operation.
Ikharo, while speaking with newsmen, said the team came to handle a security problem in the area, which is by Kubwa train station, where people are attacked in the evening.
According to Ikharo, “We came here to actually address security problems. We came here with the full support and the directive of the FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello and Commissioner of Police, Sunday Babaje to actually tackle the issue of miscreants and babanbola who wreck havoc on persons in FCT.
“This is the connecting area between Kubwa and Biazhin and there is so much cases from this rail corridor and rail station that many persons cannot even pass after 6pm.
“You dare not pass this area after 6pm. Many persons have been robbed and stabbed with knife and other dangerous weapons and dispossessed of their belongings here.
“Machines cannot get to that stretch, so we had to set the shanties on fire. I can’t really quantify the number of shanties, but my desire is to sack the shanties and free this area of all criminal elements.
“The residents were jubilating even though they were scared to show their faces to journalists. They were so happy because most of those boys scale the fence of the estate around here and rob them without being challenged.”
On sustainability, he said: “We are going to come back and we will keep coming and keep coming until they give up on this location.
“We came here last year. It was densely populated by barchers and what we see today is about 40% of what we removed last year . If they come again, we will be waiting for them.
“What is important is sustainability. when the Minister and Commissioner of Police have given us the mandate to go after these hoodlums in Abuja. Most of the things we covered are daggers, attack knives, light weapons etc. They even extend their shanties close to the train tracks.”