Land encroachment: AMMC enforces stop-work order against Military

Favour SHUAIB, Abuja

The Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) on Monday halted ongoing earthworks by laborers purportedly engaged by Military on a land located at Kuje Junction, off Airport Road, belonging Nigerian Police.

AMMC officials, who stormed the site to enforce stop work order that was served on the site for almost two weeks, said it aimed at addressing a clear case of an encroachment by a security agency against a sister institution.

The Council explained that the was taken to ensure strict compliance with the rules and regulations of property development in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Speaking during the exercise, AMMC Coordinator, Umar Shaibu, said the Police had drawn its attention to the alleged encroachment, which was looked and discovered that it is the military that is clearing land without statutory title document for their activities in the place.

Shaibu said : “We received a complain from the Nigerian Police that they have a title to the plot of land in which they noticed work going on.

“The police have the right to inform us that somebody is developing their land.It is our responsibility to make sure that whoever is encroaching on any land, we come in and try to resolve the matter, by running a thorough check on the land title document that whoever is making the development has.

“When we came, we discovered that it is the military that is clearing land, and we asked for their statutory land title document for their activities in the place.

“For the past one to two weeks that we served stop work notice, unfortunately it was not respected. So, we are here to enforce the stop work order, because we have to work according to the rules and regulations of development in Abuja.”

According to him, the Nigerian Police have title to the land, so if it’s a matter double allocation, then is expected to receive any title from the military.”We are not preventing them (the military) from developing there but that will be done within the ambit of the law.

“They (the military) must respect us, because we are the statutory institution for making sure law and order is respected in matters of land.In Nigeria, we must respect law and order, as nobody is above law.

“Nobody no matter how high has the right to trample on somebody’s right, and then we will allow it, we won’t be fair to all the citizens of the country most especially developers in Abuja.

“We will always come here to make sure that they will stop; we are here today, and we shall be here again until we stop them.
“When two security agencies are having conflict among themselves, it’s our responsibility to make sure we intervene and mediate on the issue.”

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