The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has declared that shanties in Abuja are illegal and vowed that their occupants would be removed.
Speaking during a live media chat on Monday, September 1, Wike said shanties defaced the city and served as hideouts for criminals.
“When you say shanties, are shanties legal? You see, we cannot joke with the security. You have complained about insecurity, kidnapping, and ‘one-chance’. These are people who occupy all these charities. In fact, sometimes, they take over the corridors where the road is supposed to pass. And when you want to do road, they say, ‘compensate’. Compensate who? It is not correct. Mind you, criminals don’t stay where you will locate them. Criminals stay in these locations where you cannot locate them,” he said.
The minister added, “We’re going to make sure that all illegal occupants of anywhere will be thrown out. It’s unfortunate. There’s nothing we can do about it because security is paramount. Any government that cannot provide security for citizens has no business in government. You see, we have to be careful about this poverty thing and no poverty thing.”
When asked about residents living in shanties due to financial constraints, Wike dismissed poverty as a justification for illegal occupation. “We cannot say because of poverty, we should allow you to kill people, to rob people, to kidnap people. That’s not allowed; it defaces the city, and that is why we have asked people who claim that this land belongs to them, or sometimes, why they are not developing the land. Why are you making it possible for these criminals to come and settle here and cause problems for the city?”
Wike recalled that in March 2025, he ordered the demolition of structures obstructing road construction in Gishiri, Katampe, giving occupants a three-month grace period to evacuate, which he said was ignored. He also accused community chiefs of failing to enforce the evacuation.
In December 2024, he defended similar demolitions, emphasizing that the properties targeted were illegally built on government land. “Let me use this opportunity to tell Nigerians and residents of Abuja, we are not afraid of blackmail. In fact, you cannot be in this kind of position and say you cannot be blackmailed, particularly as regards this Abuja. There are so many land grabbers. Some of us have come to put our feet down. Let heaven fall. It is even better that heaven comes down now so that we would not be fasting again to go to heaven,” Wike said during the distribution of operational vehicles to security agencies at the FCTA Secretariat.