Crops save squatters at MKO Abiola stadium from eviction
The Federal Ministry of Sports and Youth Development has come to the rescue of squatter farmers at the MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on compassionate grounds. The farmers have been allowed to stay and harvest their crops before the quit notice handed to them in June would be executed. It would be recalled that […]
Sports minister, Sunday Dare in his office at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja
The Federal Ministry of Sports and Youth Development has come to the rescue of squatter farmers at the MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on compassionate grounds.
The farmers have been allowed to stay and harvest their crops before the quit notice handed to them in June would be executed.
It would be recalled that the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare, during an inspection of the stadium, ordered that any illegal occupant within the stadium be evicted by July 15.
Daily Trust Saturday in its July 11, 2020 edition, revealed that most of the occupants of the structures inside the Package B of the MKO Abiola Stadium were people who displaced by the insurgency in the North East.
Our reporter who visited the stadium discovered that illegal occupants of the sporting edifice are yet to leave as ordered by the minister.
An SMS was sent to the media aide to the minister, John Joshua Akanji, to find out why they are yet to be evicted.
In his reply, Akanji said the illegal occupants were yet to be evacuated because the minister wanted them to harvest their crops.
He said in an SMS reply, “Because they planted corn and other crops, the minister has allowed them to harvest their crops before they will be evicted.”
He further stated that rehabilitation of some sections of the stadium Abuja were ongoing.
One of the squatters, Emmanuel Adamu, who spoke to our reporter, said they were yet to be served any quit notice and explained that they only heard about their evacuation over the radio.
He further said, “Nobody has come to tell us anything. Till now, we have not heard from the ministry or the stadium manager.
“We are living in fear that one day they will come and send us out without notice. Even after you visited us, we were expecting them to come; nobody did.”
Meanwhile, the squatters have continued to plead with the government to provide another accommodation for them whenever they were to be ejected from the stadium.