Sophia Michaels
On Friday, a peaceful protest was staged by a group of youths, operating under the banner of Concerned Citizens of Kutunku in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. The demonstration aimed to draw attention to the deteriorating condition of Kutunku market and abattoir roads in the area.
The youths also threatened to shut down the Gwagwalada Area Council Secretariat and office of the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, if their demands were not met.
The placards-carrying protesters in their number marched through Kutunku market road to demand for immediate repair of the roads which they said had been in bad shape for years.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards read; “Save Gwagwalada Now”; “We Can’t Continue Like This”; “Repair Market and Abattoir Road Now”; “We Can’t Keep Silence and Be Suffering”; “We Deserve Better Treatment” and among others.
The youths who are also members of ‘Take It Back Movement’ with hashtag #SaveGwags lamented and expressed concerns over the insensitive action of the Chairman of the Gwagwalada Area Council, Alhaji Abubakar Jibrin Giri, towards the plight of the residents in the area.
Addressing the protesters, the Head Of Organising and Mobilisations, Take-It-Back Movement, Manasseh Ben Paul, said the protest was aimed at calling on the Chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council and Minister of FCT on the need to take urgent action on the deteriorating roads and poor infrastructures in Kutunku market.
He lamented the complete absence of governance in the area despite a humongous amount of Federal allocation and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) coming to the Area Council.
He said “Today we are here to express our grievances on how the government and Area Council have neglected us and this has become a habit because we sent letters to them two times and they did not respond. But they fail to understand that when people take over the streets, all oppressors will run away.
“They fail to understand that welfare of the people must be given a priority but right now our welfare is in jeopardy.
“Look at the cottage hospital; it has been abandoned for several years. Look at Jeremiah Useni Road. It is in bad shape. The market road is just a mess and abattoir road is in shamble “
He called on the area council chairman to take the peaceful protest as a message and take necessary action on the roads adding that the next line of action of the group is to mobilise the residents to occupy and shut down the council Secretariat and Minister of FCT office.
Also speaking the Co-convener #SaveGwags, Comrade Majesty Idisi said, “In Gwagwalada I can tell you today that Kutunku market road is neglected and this market is the one of the best markets everybody goes to shop. We now repair our vehicles on a daily basis because of the bad roads.”
“We want to remind you that next time we will shut down the council secretariat and shut down Wike’s office. Then we would go to the Presidency and shut down the villa because these are public offices and they are our workers. We pay their salaries,” Manasseh added.
The protesters used the rally to sensitise the residents to brace up and join the next protest which they described as “Mother of All Protest” with the view to compel the government authorities to fix the roads in their community.
Among the demands of the groups includes; immediate repair of Gwagwalada market road and all other roads before the rainy season; also accountability and transparency in running the affairs of Gwagwalada Area Council.
Recall that the movement had on November 6, 2023 through the provisions of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011, wrote a letter addressed to the Chairman Gwagwalada Area Council requesting for detailed and up to date record of federal allocations received by the Council area from 2022 to date.
The group also demanded for an elaborate breakdown of the expenditure of the Federal allocation and internal generated revenue.
