Abuja Crafts Operators Decry Demolition Of Shops

- Call On President Buhari To Intervene

Traders at Abuja Crafts Village, under the umbrella of the African Arts and Cultural Heritage Association, AACH, have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene on the demolition of their temporary shops at Millennium Park, Abuja.

The traders, in a statement by its secretary, Lawal Shuaibu Moh’d, said they had become ‘endangered’ following the continued closure of the village.

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Recall that the village has remained closed since February this year allegedly on the orders of the National Council for Arts and Culture despite court orders to re-open it. Against this backdrop, the traders rented a space and erected makeshift shops at the park.

Moh’d said, “It’s a pity how we are being treated in our fatherland. We are endangered species. Our members are subjected to untold hardship. We managed to get a temporary space at the Millennium Park. To our surprise FCT Development Control demolished it on 12th October 2018 without notice. Anywhere we go, they follow us. The closure is even illegal because there is a court order restraining it.”

Also speaking, chairman of the building committee, Fred Okeke, said, “We are passing through hell. Two of our members have passed on while many are incapacitated. Before we began the erection of the temporary structure, we did inform FCT Parks and Recreation Department. We erected 108 shops. Some have been roofed while some are about to be completed. Development Control people monitored the work until we were almost through, then they marked them and demolished them without notice. President Buhari should intervene. We are doing a legitimate business. I have gone to Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya and crafts are appreciated. Former Minister Mallam el-Rufa’i allocated the craft village to us. Suddenly Runsewe wants to take it over; in the process disobeying court orders. Our shops were burnt; I lost over N60m to the inferno; then the shops were locked. Now our efforts to start off again have been thwarted. It is wickedness. Some of us sold our farmlands to erect the shops.”

According to the traders, the director general of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Runsewe, is the mastermind of their ordeals. They and Otunba have been at loggerheads over the move by the NCAC to relocate them and take over the land where the village is located.

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A source from the NCAC, on condition of anonymity, said the agency was not aware of the demolition at the Millennium Park. According to her, “NCAC has nothing to do with the demolition. We have no business in the matter at all. Or are we selling crafts. They should get clarifications from the authorities concerned. Our case with them was the land where the village was located which we have the Certificate of Occupancy.”

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