The fate of a widow and her over 150 orphans after the demolition of their home in Kubwa, Abuja by the FCTA, forms the thrust of this piece by PAUL OKAH.
Nigeria is besieged with quite a lot of social challenges often caused by a myriad of reasons. Of this, juvenile delinquency, mostly coming from products of either broken homes or unwanted pregnancy, ranks higher.
Little wonder therefore that some well-meaning individuals and corporate organisations are always willing to lend a helping hand on a way out of this menace. In this group is Divine Wounds of Jesus Christ Orphanage and Rehabilitation Home, located opposite Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) along Arab Road, Kubwa, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The orphanage, giving succour to over 150 orphans, equally has a church, library, school and shop to cater for the spiritual and educational needs of the populace, including the host community.
Children in the home are aged between two months and fifteen years. Up until penultimate Tuesday, the conviviality and radiating joy in the home were common features of children, though with different backgrounds and circumstances, but with one mission–looking into a future full of hope.
The demolition
But by noon of the fateful day, their lives had changed for the worse? The joy of these innocent children was cut short as they were confronted with the sight of a roaring machine of destruction deployed by the authority of the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
They were terrified at the massive structure detailed to come and change the course of their otherwise harmonious living. And in a jiffy, the home had turned into rubbles and shanties leaving behind a tale of woes, sorrow and anguish. The children were shattered with gloom and forlorn look written all over their faces when this reporter visited penultimate Friday.
We ‘re justified – FCTA
And to the FCTA, it was simply doing a job cut out for it, as the said property, according to it, never complied with the laid down rules on property development.
Director, FCTA department of development control, Muktar Galadima, simply says the demolition came about “because the property failed to comply with development control requirements in the nation’s capital.”
The property owner, Galadima says, disregarded several “stop work” and other notices served on her, including among others, a demand for the title document of the plot.
He challenges the school owner to forward necessary documents to his office for onward submission to the lands department and the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) to authenticate the ownership of the plot.
“When we received this complaint of encroachment, we visited the site and served all the relevant notices beginning from ‘Stop Work’ notice, quit notice, to demolition notice. This is in line with our responsibility of ensuring strict implementation of the Abuja Master Plan. The owner did not submit any title document about the disputed property.
“If she had submitted, we would have put her title document together with that of the complainant. We will then send it to the department of lands administration to confirm who the rightful owner of the land was or is, because there are three plots she is sitting on. The issuing authority would now write us formally confirming the real owner of the land.”
The FCTA further says there’s already a court judgement with documented evidences indicating that the case had been struck out due to absence of all parties, and that it had documents to justify the demolition.
It’s all lies – Proprietress
In a reaction however, proprietress of the home, Bishop Victoria Ezemoka, says the FCTA lies on reasons for the demolition and that there is a more sinister reason than what is being advanced by the authorities.
And shocked by the reality of seeing the structures pulled down, the school owner faints and instantly rushed to an undisclosed hospital for urgent medical attention.
While sweating profusely amidst support from some sympathisers, the proprietress tells journalists penultimate Friday she has found an accommodation as a temporary measure pending when she would get a bigger apartment.
She also denies claim by the FCTA that she fails to produce the documents after several notices and demands, saying her brother-in-law, Goddiful Ezegwo, wants to take over the property and consequently produced another title document for the same property.
The land has remained a subject of litigation between Ezemoka and her brother-in-law since 2013.
She reveals that trouble over ownership of the disputed property dates back to the period after her husband’s death and that, since the case is still before an FCT High Court, Abuja, there’s no need for further action by any of the parties involved, including the FCTA.
Ezemoka recalls: “When I met the development control department over the issue, they simply asked me to reconcile with my brother-in-law, but Ezegwo gave me three conditions which I couldn’t meet.”
“Yesterday(penultimate Thursday), I got an accommodation, but somebody called the woman not to collect 1 year rent, but 3 years’. I thank God that a good Samaritan has promised to accommodate us. I am having health issues at the moment. I am just coming back from the hospital as I wanted to see how the children are doing. There is no one that does not need government’s assistance, so they are welcome to help in the accommodation of the children.
“However, government has refused to tell or show me the place they claim they want to take the children to. Since yesterday, I have been begging them, but they refused. Even if I die today, the children will still succeed in life. As it is, I don’t have strength again, I have no other person to call on for assistance as government is the highest organisation you can run to,” she explains.
We’ll accommodate the children – FCTA
Following the widespread criticism trailing the demolition of the home, Galadima assures on the FCTA’s readiness to provide a temporary accommodation for the over 150 now homeless orphans.
“In the beginning, we had sympathy and a kind heart for the children and we are looking for a way forward for the children, on how to cushion their hardships by relocating them so that they do not feel rejected by the society. That is why the most important thing at this moment is the welfare of those children, which we are working seriously on.
“We want to provide succour for them by getting them a temporary accommodation, even if it is for one year, so that our children will have a safe place to stay. This is because this government has a human face. We hope to do that as soon as possible.”
In the interim, the school owner who appears helpless, says she has relocated the children to her two-bedroom apartment, pending when she would get a bigger place for them.
Criticisms trail demolition
Expectedly, the demolition has been drawing widespread criticisms from different quarters, especially from residents of the host community.
Even outside Abuja and on the social media, the demolition, has drawn the ire of many Nigerians, as they could not understand the rationale behind the act and its effect on the poor children.
In a chat with Blueprint Weekend, a resident of the community, Mr Daniel Ifeanyi, who owns a provision store opposite the demolished orphanage, believes the demolition is uncalled for, especially as the proprietress is a humanitarian taking care of the less-privileged.
“What can the FCTA say the woman did to them? It is not as if the orphanage is situated along the road to obstruct traffic. If you ask me, it is just callousness on the part of the authorities. You can’t just demolish someone’s property and render children homeless without expecting the wrath of God,” he says.
Also speaking, Mrs Aisha Bello, who owns a boutique around the area, describes it as one demolition too many, alleging that FCTA was engaging in the indiscriminate demolition of property.
She says: “My major concern is that the owner of the orphanage will be demoralised to do good in the future. Look at a woman who has been taking care of the children of other women, yet all the government can do for her is to demolish her property and render the little children homeless.
“Who knows, they must have demanded huge sums of money from her, without her meeting up their demands, because I can’t think of any reason why the property was demolished. FCTA is known to engage in the indiscriminate demolition of properties if the owner does not settle them. You only have to walk around town to hear tales of woes.”
A commercial motorcycle operator, who identifies himself simply as Musa says he’s demoralised since the demolition exercise took place, to the extent that he had refused plying the route.
This reporter, Musa says, is the first person he would be taking to the orphanage since the demolition took place, as the sight of the stranded children standing beside the rubbles that used to be their homes, brings tears to his eyes.
“I may not know the reason adduced by FCTA for taking such a draconian action, but I am of the opinion that they should have provided an alternative accommodation for the children before the demolition. I used to bring people to the orphanage, who always bring goodies to identify with the children.
“However, the demolition has affected me psychologically. Until today, I have refused to ply the road because of what I saw on the day of the demolition. The little children were just standing helpless and confused, because many of them have grown to see the orphanage as their real homes. So, how do you expect the children to feel? They will grow up hating the government for rendering them homeless, no matter the excuses.”
‘Students psychologically down’
In an exclusive interview with Blueprint Weekend, head of administration of the school, Mrs Bridget Akimbobora, says the exercise has negatively impacted the psychology of the pupils and students currently writing their second term examinations.
According to her, the students are going through psychological torture just sitting on bare floor to write their examinations, as many desks hitherto being used by them are destroyed in the demolition exercise.
Most disturbing, Akinbobora laments, is the school’s library just commissioned last week, which was also demolished without the books or computers being salvaged before the bulldozer roars.
“I feel very bad about the demolition of the property belonging to my proprietress, especially as I am the head of administration of the school. Where do they want us to stay and finish the exams we started just last week? Everything about Divine Wounds of Jesus Christ is charity.
“As teachers in the academy, we provide humanitarian services, as we are not paid the salaries teachers get in other schools. However, we will just have to find a place to stay and finish our exams, but my students are not happy about the development.”
Students weep
In an exclusive chat with our reporter an SSS1 student, Blessing Precious, who comes to school from her house in Kubwa, says she may lose a whole academic year to the demolition exercise.
“We may not feel the real effect of the demolition of our school until next term. We are presently writing our second term exams, but where are we going to resume for the third term in May? Schools hardly accept students in the third term, as the academic year would be coming to a close, so we are really in a fix.”
Speaking in similar vein, an SSSIII student , Joseph Adebayo, who lives with his mother working in the orphanage, witnesses the demolition from the beginning to the end on the ill-fated day.
“The situation is really not funny. Like today, I was supposed to have my Commerce exam, but it has been postponed pending the resolution of our accommodation issues. You needed to be here to witness the scene of little children weeping because of the demolition. There was no prior notice, the bulldozers simply started pulling down the buildings, while we ran helter-skelter trying to salvage valuables.
“Security agencies wielding intimidating guns while the exercise lasted, ready to shoot at the slightest provocation, as if children of two months or fifteen years could confront them. I pray that God can perform His miracles so that we can be resettled as quickly as possible. We are really suffering as a result of the demolition.”
Lawyers express angst
Meanwhile, lawyers to the parties concerned in the land controversy have expressed angst over the development.
They condemn the decision to demolish the structures, especially when there is a pending issue before an FCT High Court, Abuja.
For instance, Ezegwo’s lawyer, Titus Agundu, flays the demolition he describes as illegal, stressing he would seek damages against the FCTA over the incident.
“I was in court when I received a call that the buildings were being demolished. This case is still before the court and had not been determined. We will take action against the FCDA and seek damages for the demolition of the five buildings. This is illegal and unacceptable.”
Also, counsel to the FCTA , Murtala Dahiru, expresses shock over the demolition, noting there’s no court order to that effect.
“I’m surprised to hear about the demolition, I am not aware of it because the case is still in court and had not been decided.”
SDS speaks
Also addressing newsmen during a visit to the orphanage, Director, Admin and Finance in the FCTA, Mrs Sefia Umar, says her unit is pretty willing to accommodate the children in a government facility pending the proprietress’ readiness to reclaim her children.
“We are intervening in the situation because the proprietress of the orphanage invited us to see how her orphanage was demolished and how the children have been rendered homeless.
“The SDS is charged with the regulation of all NGOs in the FCT and every NGO must be registered, as we are in charge of the security of the children. We have social and gender departments in the secretariat that work hand in hand on the issue of children.
“We implement the United Nations Child Rights Act in the FCT. We will seal off any orphanage that is not treating children aright. There from, if there are children that are homeless in an orphanage, the SDS will come and provide solutions. If anything happens to them, we are the government arm that the international community will hold responsible, as we work hand in hand with NAPTIP.
“Going forward, we want to take the children to Unity Orphanage home in Gwarko. We have been running round since the demolition to make sure we provide an accommodation for them.
“We don’t intend to take her children away from her. We don’t intend to take over her orphanage. We didn’t even know here until she came to us after the demolition. She was the one that invited us.
“Therefore, with the office of the vice president involved in the issue, we don’t have any reason not to help. As she said she does not have any place to keep the children, we will take them to a temporary accommodation. Whenever she resolves her issues, we can document and give the children back to her. The government is not duty bound to keep orphanages.
“The timeframe of being in custody of the children will be determined by the woman. If she resolves her issues on time, we can give back the children to her. However, we will have to inspect the new facility she is taking the children to, as we will not want to expose them to further dangers.
“AEPB will have to assess the new environment to see if it is habitable. Social welfare department will also be paying them periodic visits to assess their lifestyle. In a nutshell, we don’t have the budget to keep the children so we will hand them over to her as soon as she provides a habitable accommodation for them,” assures Umar.
With the intervention of the FCTA, it’s hoped the poor children will have succour again, so they don’t feel neglected by the society as rightly observed by Galadima. Beside, necessary measures must be put in place to ensure the children don’t suffer for what whatever ‘sin’ they know nothing about.
