Why we demolished Suleja military barracks – Niger

Niger state government has said that it demolished a former Barracks in Suleja “because it has become a criminal den and occupied by illegal tenants.”

 

The Commissioner for Information, Jonathan Vatsa, stated this yesterday in Suleja while monitoring the demolition exercise, insisting that the current occupants of the facility and land were illegal tenants.

 

He explained that plot was donated to the military authority in the 1970s by the Niger state government for temporary use as barracks, adding that the military authorities had formally handed over back the affected facility to the state government through an agreement signed by both parties in 2014.

 

According to him, “the state government had also gone ahead to magnanimously paid certain amount as compensation through the military authority for those that may be affected by the exercise shortly after the official handover of the facility.”

 

The commissioner said enough notice was given to those illegally occupying the place to quit, adding that it was unfortunate that some hoodlums destroyed machines meant to clear the site after the transfer formalities.

 

“We have security reports that the place is a hideout for criminal elements. People from there go out to terrorise residents of Suleja and retreated back there. So we have to protect lives and property. More so, we are putting the land to protective use,” he said.

 

Also speaking, the General Manager of the State Urban Development Board, Malama Habiba Ahmed, who supervised the demolition exercise, explained that the state government had held series of meetings with stakeholders on the desirability of putting the land to productive use.

 

Our correspondent observed that those affected were seen trying to salvage their belongings, while others were already moving their property in a chattered vehicles from the site.

 

A resident of the facility who was evicted, Timothy Suleiman, told our correspondent that he was raised in one of the houses which are now in rubble.

 

“I was born there,” he said, pointing at the location where his house was.

 

However, when asked where his retired soldier father is, he said the parents have moved to Kaduna state.

He claimed that two people lost their lives in the exercise, a claim swiftly refuted by the DG of the State Urban Development Board described the allegation as false. Let him show us where the corpses were buried.”

 

 

 

 

 

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