By Donald Iorchir
Abuja
Protesters, in the early hours of yesterday, blocked the ever busy Abuja-Lokoja highway, demanding for stakeholders’ intervention into what they called excessive ceding of land to the Nigeria Army by the government.
The protesters, under the umbrella of Abuja indigenes, with placards accused the Nigerian Army of building structures on their farm lands without compensation, and put a halt to the movement of traffic on the busy highway.
They barricaded the road from Zubaidi in Gwagwalada area council, Abuja to Kaduna highway leading to Lokoja, protesting what they called excessive ceding of land to the Nigerian Army at the FCT.
According to them, the over 44 km area stretched from Giri junction along Abuja Airport road to Zuba.
Leader of the protesters, Adamu Isiaku, said the action was informed by the notice by officials of the Nigerian Army who drafted excavators to the land yesterday.
Blueprint recalled that in June this year, traditional rulers and some prominent stakeholders met in the palace of Agora of Zuba, Mohammed Bello, and constituted a committee based on FCDA recommendations to resolve the crisis and since then, nothing has been heard of the steps, until the current situation pushed them into action as the Army seems not to wait for the committee’s action.
It took the officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, FRSC and police up to 11:30 am to clear the road after the protesters insisted they would not go until the excavators were removed.
Though there was no official of FCTA at the time of filling this report, the Police Area Commander in charge of Kubwa zone, CSP Alfa Jibrin, said they would “ensure the road is open to users.”
