It was lamentations most part of Wednesday and Thursday as several residents of Gishiri District in the Federal Capital City, Abuja, lost their property following the demolition of about 5,000 structures.

That was the second time in lesss that four months government officials would for security reasons and encroachment on designated land, clear the community for the official plot owners.

In a report, Abuja Digest, the official newspaper belonging to the FCTA explained the reasons for the emphasising that it was for security reasons and illegal encroachment by unauthorised persons.

 FCTA had some months back carried out demolition of illegal structures in Gishiri community, but returning thisntime to pull down more than 5000 shanties and illegal structures.

The Department of Development Control’s District Officer for Katampe and Mabushi, Mr. Samson Atureta, who led the exercise on Wednesday, explained that, apart from harbouring hoodlums who pose a serious challenge to security of lives and property, the illegal structures were sitting on some other peoples’ allocated plots; adding that the allottees have asked to be given access to their property for development.

He further stated that a portion of the affected area was reserved for the development of a multipurpose recreational facility; adding that his department has always done due diligence before removing any illegal structure in the Territory.

Calling on genuine owners of landed property in Gishiri to hurry up and take possession of their property, Atureta disclosed that some of the plots were being divided and sold to unsuspecting members of the public.

His words: “We needed to follow due procedures, and that’s why we are here after we got approval to remove the encroachments. We have been doing it in batches; now we are about 60-70 per cent in the removal of the illegalities here.

“And since we started, we must have removed at least 5,000 shanties or illegal developments in Gishiri,” he said.