Crisis looms in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) over a recent clampdown on street urchins, beggars, Keke NAPEP (tricycle) operators, owners of local bars, illegal shanties, roadside food vendors, okada riders and other residents whom the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed identified as miscreants.

Troops of enforcers

Trucks loaded with tough-looking police officers, led by the controversial FCT Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu, have been patrolling the metropolis, mopping up the bad elements.
The clampdown is a desperate attempt by Senator Mohammed to save his job after a rumour that he was queried by President Goodluck Jonathan, over the deplorable condition of Abuja.

Mohammed who is not ready to swallow the blow threw at him by the president has therefore, ordered his mandate secretaries, directors and aides to redeem the tarnished image of his administration or use the exit door.
To do their master‘s bidding, all the mandate secretaries and directors of the departments have abandoned the comfort of their offices and have personally been supervising the clampdown on the unwanted elements.

Jungle city
The realities of the shameful state of the city dawned on Senator Mohammed two weeks ago  when  he undertook a tour of projects in the territory. The minister who was apparently angry cried out,  “civil servants have frustrated my effort to develop the city.“
He did not stop there, but further accused departmental directors of often lying to him about the situation of the city. “A city like Abuja cannot be allowed to degenerate to what it is today. And you have seen things for yourself and I have shown the directors that all the information they have been giving me were lies.

“They tell me that the city is clean but it is not true. And we have gone round with you journalists and it‘s not true. They told me that there are no street traders but there are street traders everywhere. They told me there are no beggars, and we saw them everywhere. They told me there are no okada riders, but now in fact, the okada are even more than vehicles. Definitely, we can see, that what they have told you and I are not true, and that‘s why it is good to always go on inspection“, he lamented.

You embarrass me
Infuriated by what he saw during the tour, the minister for the umpteenth time, read the riot act to civil servants in his administration. He said if they are not ready to work within his vision, he would be forced to source for consultants who would handle them.
He said he felt embarrassed to be summoned by the president to explain why certain jobs were not done, saying he had become tired of talking to civil servants and vowed to act decisively now.

He said: “It is either they resign honourably or we show them the way out. This has become necessary because we have been talking and talking. I felt highly disgusted and so we had to go on this inspection.“

Real action
The minister immediately promised to set up a taskforce under the chairmanship of the Police Commissioner, Mbu. “I was becoming disillusioned and disgruntled. I have read the riot act to all directors. We are sending notice to all those who love to flout our laws that we won‘t allow Abuja to become a jungle“, he assured.

Senator Mohammed inaugurated a 19-man committee to rid the city centre of miscreants. The FCT minister mandated the task team to remove shanties and unplanned developments in the city centre; put in place necessary strategies to reduce the gridlock and ease traffic flow in the metropolis; arrest and prosecute prostitutes who constitute social menace within the Abuja metropolis and arrest, detain and prosecute road traffic offenders.

Mbu: A call to duty
Chairman of the task force,  Mbu was also given an 11-point terms of reference that include carrying out sting operations in hideouts occupied by suspected criminals and by  that, cut down on incidents of crime in Abuja.

The members are to equally identify the flashpoints of street hawking and other untoward activities in the metropolis. The task force is also mandated to arrest, detain and prosecute environmental sanitation defaulters, street hawkers and their sponsors.
Mbu recalled what he described as  good job when he headed a petroleum task team and another committee in charge of monitoring police projects to assure that his team justify the mandate and handle the brief adequately.

The former Rivers State police chief who got used to wars over there promised to give his new assignment a good start and to sustain the pace till the end.

Collision

Already, the clampdown is causing serious ripples in some parts of the metropolis. In Garki, Apo and Galadima, Keke NAPAP riders and members of the taskforce are already on collision over the seizure and destruction of their tricycles. Abuja Metro gathered from some of the victims of the activities of the taskforce that more than 100 tricycles have so far been destroyed, while several others have been seized and taken to an unknown locations.

One of the victims, Hamza spoke to Abuja Metro in Hausa language through an interpreter and lamented: “I was riding from Garki Market to Area 1 Roundabout when I met members of the taskforce. They did not even say anything. I was forcefully pushed out of the keke and they destroyed it right in front of me.

“We have not been told to leave this part of Abuja. It is a surprise that something like this is happening. I am very sad, because my family and I survive on this. I have a wife and a son in Katsina. What am I going to tell them? I am yet to even complete payment for the keke.  What do I do? I am very confused and frustrated.“

Bust-ups

Hamza is not alone. In Garki, the taskforce and residents engaged each other in  a free-for-all when they attempted to destroy some of the shanties. It took the intervention of some police officers attached to the taskforce to douse the tension.

In Gwarimpa, the taskforce was also resisted by residents of a slum that stood in front of the  bulldozers sent by to bring down the illegal shanties. Owners of eateries and bars are not left out, as the Development Control office has issued a two-week notice to the operators to vacate the city or face eviction.

Owner of an eatery in Utako, Mrs Cynthia Awele said she got the notice on March 16 from the FCTA. She said she had been given two weeks to leave the area where she sells food at a construction site and to people who live within the neighbourhood. She said all her efforts to explain her situation received no attention, as the officials sent to deliver the message said they were carrying out the instruction of the minister.

With the growing tension and the resistance of the move by residents, it is uncertain how events will unfold in the coming weeks in Abuja. The timing of the exercise has been criticised by stakeholders who believe that its coincidence with the National Conference might not be good development.

-Sun