Civil Society Groups Petition Senate on Demolition of Minanuel Estate, Abuja

By SaharaReporters, New York

Two major civil society groups have called on members of the National Assembly to protect the rights of the citizens of Nigeria in general and the subscribers to the Minanuel Housing estate in Abuja particular, in connection with the recent demolition of 500 housing units in that estate.
In a petition signed by the Chairman of HEDA Resource Centre, Olanrewaju Suraju, and the President of Campaign for Democracy and Women Arise, Joe Okei-Odumakin, the groups recalled that at the time the estate was demolished, it was valued at 10billion Naira.  Development of the estate, which started in 2005, had reached 80% completion.
They drew attention to a report in National Accord newspaper online on December 14 in which the spokesman for Minanuel Investments Ltd, Mr. Chukwuma Ogbuagu, stated that a few days to the demolition, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the FCT, Smart Adeyemi, accused the developer of trespassing into the land.  In a radio programme, the Senator described the land as having been allocated to Senators and called on the firm to liaise with the appropriate authorities.
The petitioners further stated that the developers of the estate claim that all the necessary allocation documents, approvals and permits had been obtained prior to development, and that the Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed had issued no notices of a pending demolition.
“If these allegations are proven true, we are appalled that a minister in a democracy who is supposed to have the utmost respect for the rule of law and due process would act in such a contemptuous manner in breach of the fundamental rights of the citizens of the state,” the petition said.
Citing citizens’ rights deriving from the African Charter on Human and Peoples ‘Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, the groups asserted that access to safe and secure housing is one of the most basic human rights
The petition said: “Governments all over the world take the housing needs of their citizens seriously and put in place adequate measures to provide for it.
It is evident that the Nigerian government has not been able to meet this challenge with its ever growing population. In the recently held presidential retreat on housing it was reported that the country is currently having 17 million housing deficit. This single unguided action of an executive and government agencies does not reflect a government that is concerned about how to close this deficit or one that champions the cause of democratic values of due process and rule of law.”
The groups said that it is even more worrisome that an investment of over 10 billion Naira and involving over 500 families would be destroyed and the victims subjected to untold hardships to satisfy the thirst of lawmakers for land acquisition of lawmakers, as inferred from the comments made by Senator Smart Adeyemi and another by the minister that the land has been reallocated.