BY JULIET EKWENUGO
Abuja
A civil society organisation, Pro-Impact Initiative, has condemned the recent violent attacks on officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the burning of a truck by suspected hoodlums in the Kuchibena community, Kafe District, Abuja.
In a statement issued on Thursday in Maitama, the Executive Director of the group, Dr. Osamudiamen Isokpehi, described the assaults as “a continuous exhibition of recklessness and lawlessness” that must not be allowed to fester.
“The unfolding criminalities in Kuchibena community are a source of concern to us,” the statement read. “On Monday, 24th November 2025, officials of the Development Control Department came under attack during a post-removal cleanup exercise in Winning Clause Estate, during which their official vehicle was vandalised in broad daylight.”
According to the CSO, the situation escalated two days later when hoodlums allegedly attacked a truck conveying construction materials to the estate.
“More worrisome was the attack in the night of Wednesday, 26th November, into the early hours of Thursday, 27th November. The assailants vandalised a truck delivering materials, set it ablaze, and destroyed window glasses of some buildings. This is totally unacceptable,” the statement added.
The organisation said its investigation confirmed that FCTA officials acted in full compliance with four separate court judgments, three from the FCT High Court and one from the Court of Appeal, which affirmed that Winning Clause Estate had fully compensated the Kuchibena natives and was legally permitted to clear the area.
“Based on our investigation, the judges of the four courts affirmed that the community was fully compensated, even overcompensated. Therefore, the attacks on government officials and private property are unjustifiable,” Dr. Isokpehi said.
The CSO also accused the former Coordinator of the Satellite Towns Development Department, Tanko Yamaho, of allegedly misleading his kinsmen.
“Yamaho himself knows clearly that they have been compensated several times and even saw them with the money. So why is he now misleading them?” the statement queried.
The group urged the FCT Police Commissioner, the Director of DSS, and other security chiefs to take swift action against the assailants. “Enough is enough,” it said.
The controversy traces back to Plot 67, Cadastral Zone C05, Kafe District, where the community allegedly refused to vacate despite receiving compensation in 2011, 2015, and 2016. According to O. Marx Ikongbeh, Esq, counsel to Winning Clause Nigeria Ltd, the company acquired the land under the Abuja Mass Housing Programme and met a small settlement of about 20 houses, all of which were compensated before relocation.
“In total, compensation was paid not once, not twice, but three times,” Ikongbeh said. “In its 2016 judgment, the FCT High Court ruled that the natives had no legal claim to compensation and declared them trespassers.”
Despite the judgments, the settlement reportedly expanded unlawfully, encroaching on Ring Road 3 and selling land to non-natives who built structures without approval. The Court of Appeal in February 2025 upheld the company’s ownership and ordered the villagers to vacate the land.
Ikongbeh also revealed that the company paid for traditional rites to relocate ancestral remains in 2016 under an agreement mediated by the Sa’peyi of Garki, demonstrating further goodwill.
The Pro-Impact Initiative called on security agencies to ensure justice is served and to prevent further escalation in the troubled community.
