ABUJA: A chair, a radio, a foam mattress, a can of powdered milk — these were the things Ugo Nzeaibe managed to salvage from her house before bulldozers razed it.

The mother-of-four’s home was among thousands flattened this month in Chika, a suburb of Nigeria’s capital Abuja, in the latest round of demolitions ordered by the government of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Chika was razed because it was not part of purpose-built Abuja’s original design and residents did not have building permits.

The FCT administration has said it will relocate those made homeless, but dozens of people standing among the rubble said they were unaware of any plans to move them to new homes.

“I don’t have a place where my children can sleep tonight,” said Nzeaibe, pushing her few possessions in a rickety cart.

Nearby, bulldozers half-hidden in a cloud of dust finished off the last buildings. Most were proper brick houses, not the kind of ad-hoc shacks often found around African cities.

Soon, there was nothing but an expanse of debris where once homes, schools, churches, shops and bars stood. Thousands of people searched for scraps to sell or wondered what to do next.

The authorities say they are just upholding the law: the newly homeless of Chika say they are being unfairly singled out in a country where everybody has long ignored the rules.

“I have never seen this kind of brutality in any society that calls itself a democracy. They have made thousands homeless,” shouted Rifkatu Mari, whose house was also destroyed.

Amnesty International calls forced evictions “one of the most widespread and unrecognised human rights violations” in Africa.—Reuters