KEY POINTS

• Soldiers accused of attacking demolition team in Abuja, seize 3 vehicles.
• Operator assaulted, tyres shot flat, officials detained.
• Major General has ignored the police intervention by DPO Trademore.

Armed soldiers allegedly acting on the orders of a Maj Gen attacked development control officials who were conducting a demolition exercise in Sabon Lugbe, Abuja.

According to reports, this occurred while officials were there to remove a fence on Plot 416, which is owned by the Major General.

Eyewitnesses said the soldiers drove a vehicle with number plates covered and blocked the exit route preventing the demolition team to walk away from the premises.

The officials say that the soldiers threatened them with words such as “somebody must die today.”

But, according to the report, one of the soldiers identified as Private Jamilu allegedly approached the caterpillar operator, cocked his rifle and pointed it on the operator, who then disembarked, as stated in the report.

Physical assault followed afterward when he and another soldier squeezed the operator’s neck and ripped his clothes.

Private Jamilu then shot out the four tyres of the caterpillar, which eyewitnesses said left it immobile. He is also reported to have contacted the Major General, who eventually drove up to the scene with a bigger contingent of soldiers.

Reports say the soldiers took six development control officials, including Sector Sodangi and his site officer, hostage and brought them to the Major General’s house, where they allegedly beat them. The remaining vehicles had their tyres shot flat and three Hilux vehicles belonging to the enforcement team taken to the Major General’s residence.

Major General ignores police intervention at DPO scene

After the incident, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Trademore came to the scene to calm users. But witnesses say the Major General did not recognise the DPO’s presence, let alone listen to her.

According to the DPO, who left the scene, saying she would be back later, there is no problem. The soldiers had allegedly seized three vehicles belonging to the enforcement team and taken six of its officials to the Major General’s house, where they held them for several hours.

This seems to be one in a roster of demolitions exercises in Abuja, which are the subjects of growing tensions and which the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike is spearheading. Abuja has been a focus of Wike’s urban renewal agenda, and he has kicked off efforts to remove illegal structures there.

The incident has come under criticism from many corners urging the military to honour civil authority and keep off development control operations. Observers have called on the FCT administration to liaise with the military hierarchy to prevent reoccurrence of such.

This is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding Wike’s demolition drive in Abuja, which erupted from Plot 416 in Sabon Lugbe in the Federal Capital Territory. Because it also forces us to ask broader questions about the bounds of military intervention in civil operations and the proper way to treat government enforcement officials.