The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, has cautioned traders against arbitrary protests without following due process, saying such acts will be considered an attempt at intimidation.
The minister was reacting to the action of traders from the Apo Mechanic village, who besieged the entrance of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Secretariat, demanding that the FCT Minister sign the lease agreement to enable them to move to their permanent site at Wassa District.
The traders, who carried different placards commending the developmental strides of the Minister, however, appealed to him to sign the lease agreement that had been entered into since 2015.
Chairman of the traders association, Chimezie Ife, said his members were tired of waiting since 2006 to be allocated their permanent business environment, having spent over N100 million.
He explained that since 2006, when the old Apo mechanic village was demolished with a promise for a permanent location, they waited until 2011, when they applied for land, but were forced to spend over N100 million over time by officials of the administration.
Despite the efforts and expenses, he lamented that the traders have yet to be allocated their land. This, he added, had prompted a series of demonstrations against the administration with the hope that the current FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, would address the lingering issue.
Wike, who was obviously not impressed by the actions of the traders, berated them for neither writing his office to discuss the delay in implementation of the lease agreement nor to inform him of the protest.
The obviously angry minister said he considers the protest to be sponsored, seeing that there were no bases for the protest.
He said, “If this is the way you support government, then I don’t need it. Is this the way you support the government by barricading the road and obstructing traffic without informing me of anything? You never wrote to me saying that you wanted to see me or that we refused to see you. Then what you will do is wake up in the morning and barricade the road and barricade the gate, and then you are saying you are supporting me? Then I don’t need your support.
“What I don’t like is intimidation. If you have a problem, channel your problem to me, and if I don’t solve it, then you can take another step.
“Something that has happened since 2015 and you didn’t take any step. Ministers have come and gone, and then I just came and I haven’t received any letter from you till today, saying there is a problem we are having and we think you can help us to solve the problem. Then all of a sudden you are coming to say the good things am doing. What good things? Then you don’t need the good things.
He therefore asked them to go back and follow the due process in order to find a way forward.
“What you should do is tell your people to go, then write that you want to see me. Then we will sit down and talk. I am not one to be intimidated by anyone. I don’t like road blockades. It’s not right for people to tarnish the image of the government when we can sit and dialogue. If the government has promised to give you land, then I will look at the papers. Write to me so that I can listen to you.”
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