The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Tuesday, led a demolition squad to pull down houses on a road corridor at Gishiri in Katampe district of Abuja.

Abuja Metro reports that some angry residents threw stones at the bulldozer operators during the exercise, while police and other security agencies on-site deployed tear gas to disperse them.

Our correspondent reports that the affected houses were said to be those that would affect the construction of a dual carriageway from the Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway, starting from NICON Junction, to Wole Soyinka Way, with a completion deadline set for May.

Wike told journalists at the site that his action became necessary due to the failure of the affected residents to relocate.

Wike said funds for the compensation were made available in addition to an alternative relocation site for the affected residents.

He said the affected residents refused both the compensation and the relocation, which, he said, was obstructing the project.

The minister said, “We will not allow that. You know that I have been here more than four times.

“We have sat down with the community leaders and told them the need to cooperate with the government so that the contractor will be able to complete the project and hand it over by May.

“The traditional leaders pleaded with us to give them one week. The money for compensation has been made available and we made available somewhere where they can relocate.

“However, with all these assurances, it does appear that work is not going on and I did inform the traditional rulers that this work has to go on.”

Wike said no government would stand by and allow individuals to sabotage a project designed for the public good.

He expressed disappointment that the affected residents refused to cooperate, in spite of the fact that the land was not being acquired for private housing but for infrastructural development.

“So, I called the community leaders while away in Milan Italy, that I am going to be personally here to supervise this demolition and that’s what I came for.

“Let them know that it is not going to be business as usual.

“We are doing roads for the public and the public will not be happy that we are doing a road for them?

He said that the government had done what was humanly possible by giving them more than three months to do what was right.

“I can’t fold my arms and say let the work stop. No, we won’t do that. We will not do that. We have given them enough time.

“Are we going to say that because of few people the government will not do its work?”

The minister said the Director of Compensation and Resettlement would return to the community to determine a feasible solution for the affected residents.

“If they don’t want it, that’s their business,” Wike added.