A Civil Society group – Centre for Human Rights and Advocacy in Africa Network – has condemned Saturday’s demolition of Margaret Lawrence University Teaching Hospital (MLUTH) multi-billion-naira Cancer Centre by officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

The world-class University Teaching Hospital, whose construction started a year ago with massive construction work ongoing at the project site, was situated inside the highbrow River Park Estate, Abuja, until it was brought down yesterday.

In a statement issued Sunday, co-signed by its Executive Director, Mr. Henry Abba, and Director of Programmes, Michael Ikwebe, the group described the demolition as “high-handed, insensitive, and unacceptable,” and consequently condemned the action in its entirety.

The group noted that information at its disposal suggested that no reason was advanced by the FCTA for its action.

The Civil Society Organization expressed shock and disbelief that a demolition of this magnitude could take place in contemporary Nigeria, and wondered what the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is aiming at in the high-value estate.

“The whole incident has brought about panic in the estate, and at this point, nobody knows what is going on, because what was said in the report of the FCT Minister was that all undeveloped portions are what they want to repossess.
“But what we have in this instance is a project that has been commissioned for over a year and has been actively under development for the past one year.
“We learnt on good authority that, without any prior notice, the officials of FCTA came in and demolished the structure. In fact, they took the whole day to even do what they were doing there,” the group stated.

The Executive Director said that the action of the FCTA was highly condemnable, unacceptable, and could best be described as a demolition done in bad faith.
According to the group, the demolition exercise was not only “ill-timed but wicked,” just as it claimed the demolition was part of the FCTA’s policy to claim portions of land within the estate.

“We are under siege in this country, and nobody seems to be talking. It is legally and morally wrong for the FCTA to come into an estate to demolish a University Teaching Hospital Cancer Centre without prior notice, and on a Saturday.”

Adding: “Saturday’s exercise came on the heels of 35 structures that have been demolished in the last three days within the estate on the directive of the Ministerial Taskforce set up by the FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike,” the CSO stated.

The statement alleged that what was going on in the estate was a policy of “land grabbing” disguised as urban development.
“We strongly condemn the continued demolition of structures in River Park Estate by the FCTA under the watch of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
“When has a project under construction become an undeveloped space in the estate?” the group queried.

“We hereby appeal to the FCT Minister to call the ‘Ministerial Committee’ to order because they are going outside the report approved by the Minister,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, efforts to get the management of Margaret Lawrence University Teaching Hospital were futile as calls placed were not going through.