A demolition which occurred in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday led to protests after 2 lives were lost.
A woman whose son was in one of the demolished buildings killed herself when she realized that her son had died.
The unidentified woman was said to have stabbed herself with a shard from a broken bottle when she realized that her son was gone.
The protests occurred along the Kubwa-Zuba expressway in the FCT and led to a traffic gridlock as residents of the Lungu Village took to the streets to air their grievances against the Federal Capital Development Authority.
The protesters who started the protest at about 12 noon, barricaded the expressway with burning tyres and bricks, protesting over the lives that were lost during what they described as unannounced and inhuman demolition of the community by the officials of the FCDA.
According to a witness, Mr Joshua Iyah, officials of the FCDA in company of well armed military personnel stormed the community at about 10am, and started demolishing houses along with their belongings, not minding if people were inside or not.
“During the demolition, a primary school boy came home from school tired and hungry, not understanding what was going on, he entered their house to change from his school uniform and as he was still inside the house, that was when the bulldozer demolishing their house and blocks fell on the boy.
“Attempts to rescue the boy were not successful because the military and policemen were using whips against us. They even prevented his mother from rescuing him. The boy died immediately. When the mother of the boy saw what happened to her child, she took a broken bottle and stabbed herself to death”, he said.
JethroIliya, another eye witness said that they initially started the protest inside Gwarinpa estate, but when there was no response from the FCT minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed or relevant authorities, they decided to move to Kubwa-Zuba expressway to express their grievances.
“To make matters worse the policemen shot two people. When we were protesting over the two people shot, the military men started shooting again in the air. As I speak to you, two people are dead and two are currently in the hospital.
“What wrong have we done as natives of Abuja to have given our land to the federal government? We have given enough! They have collected our farmlands, we were quiet, now they are coming to chase us out of our houses. We have so many graduates everywhere, but no job, yet they will say we are not educated.
“Enough is enough, we have been pushed to the wall. This is just the beginning, we cannot take this anymore! Was it a crime for us to have given our land to Nigeria? This is too much, we are not animals. They should do the right thing in Abuja, before it is too late,” he said.