Shops, vehicles destroyed as 2 Mararaba motor parks are demolished
Two hundred and two shops were pulled down, while nine mass transit buses were vandalised in a demolition exercise carried out by the Nasarawa State Government in two motor parks in Mararaba on the outskirts of Abuja. Our reporter who visited the area yesterday learnt that the demolitions were between Tuesday and Wednesday. It was […]
Two hundred and two shops were pulled down, while nine mass transit buses were vandalised in a demolition exercise carried out by the Nasarawa State Government in two motor parks in Mararaba on the outskirts of Abuja.
Our reporter who visited the area yesterday learnt that the demolitions were between Tuesday and Wednesday.
It was gathered that the shops which had been built inside the two parks by individuals, were pulled down by the Nasarawa State Urban Development Board (NUDB) while the vehicles were vandalised by some thugs loyal to one of the factions of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) operating in one of the garages.
One of the people who lost their shops to the exercise, Malam Umar Mustafa, told City News that they built the facilities in 2007 after securing their land allocation from Karu Local Government Council.
He said, “Since then we paid our annual ground rent to the council through the Karu Property Development Authority (KAPDA) which was later transformed to NUDB. But all of a sudden, three weeks ago, NUDB gave us a 24-hour quit notice, citing illegal occupation.
“We wrote a complaint letter and attached it with our receipts of payment and a meeting was scheduled to take place this Wednesday with the head of the agency, only for this incident to take place a day before that.”
The Manager of the affected mass transit company, Malam Dahiru Abubakar, accused a faction of NURTW operating in one of the garages of perpetrating the crime.
He said after the quit notice was issued to them, they met the development agency to give them time.
“Drivers who operate individually have vacated the facility, while those of us that operate under state transport agencies remained hoping that a scheduled meeting with the NUDB yesterday would resolve the issue.
“All of a sudden, some boys loyal to a faction of the NURTW descended on our nine vehicles, comprising of five Adamawa Sunshine and four Yankari Express buses.
When contacted, the Police Area Commander in Karu, ACP Yusuf Taiwo, confirmed the incident. He said although inter-state transportation was halted in the state, the two parties were invited with statements taken in order to ensure peaceful co-existence in the area.