Villagers and residents of the popular Ajose Adeogun Street in Utako District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja have said that some houses are believed to be haunted by the troubled spirits of those buried in the earth beneath them. Investigations reveal that the houses were built on lands that were formerly cemeteries for residents of Utako Village who are Gbagyi, known to some as the true indigenes of Abuja. Presently, the land used by the Gbagyis as a cemetery now houses modern state-of-the-art structures.
The only free site on the street is now sandwiched between two of the houses and guarded by an iron picket fence. It was gathered that tenants who are privileged to pay the exorbitant rents charged by the owners of the houses live in fear for six-months until they can no longer endure the emotional and psychological trauma.
The houses, three modern fourstorey buildings just before veering into Augustus Aikhomu Street is the talk of the neighbourhood because of the beings believed to wine and dine within them. Sikiru Mustapha, a mechanic who has a workshop near one of the houses, told our reporters that he has worked in the premises for over 20 years and has been privy to the impromptu and unceremonious exit of tenants and occupiers of the buildings.
According to him, while one of the houses was under construction, he decided to spend the night in one of the rooms as he could not afford to go back to Bwari where he lives due to the fact that he rounded up work late, but later decided to sleep inside his car. Mustapha recounted that while sleeping, he heard the cries of babies crying and seeing human apparitions, including hearing loud and incessant noises and strange movements.
Such frightening tales by those who have experienced them has been the reason why the houses have remained unoccupied by tenants for a year now. A tenant, who pleaded anonymity said that at night, he heard the cries of babies and singing, prompting him most times to come out to check the source of the voices.
The tenant declared that he took to drinking to steady his nerves and conquer his fright. For him, living in the house was a matter of boldness and grit, it was not for the meek-minded. Only the prayerful and bold could live in the houses he described as haunted, he said. One of the houses had traces that it has been in use in the past, but was now completely abandoned and inhabited. Another resident, a gatekeeper of one of the furnished flats now uses the flats for his own personal gains, letting it out at the rate of N100,000 monthly.
The gatekeeper said that the landlord could not afford to pay him as tenants were unwilling to rent. He, therefore, charges those courageous enough to stay for a month to make ends meet, adding that each illegal occupants as he called them are not allowed to stay more than three months for fear of the house owner finding out. When contacted, the Village Head and Dakechi of Kado Life Camp, Esu Danlami Audi, said that such strange occurrences were not limited to the Utako District alone.
The master plan of the city, he insisted was flawed as it failed to take into consideration lands that were formerly used to bury the ancestors of the Gbagyis, resulting in the insensitive allocation of lands without respecting the culture and traditional rites of the indigenous inhabitants. He added that the community head of Utako Village was best positioned to consult for reparations concerning the properties built on burial grounds to stop those eerie occurrences.
“When the Federal Government is allocating a plot, they leave no cemetery for communities here. What are we to do since we are brought up here? We believe the land belongs to us, that we have equal rights to acquire a position where we can bury our dead. “If people hijack the burial ground then they most have some experiences due to the anger of the people buried there. The ancestral gods will fight you. In Jabi, Kado, Gwarinpa, they are facing these problems even in Daki Biu and Kado Kuchi,” he disclosed.
When contacted, Abubakar Sani, the Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the FCT Minister, Mohammed Musa Bello said that “Abuja is a creation of law and it has a master plan. It is being developed in districts; the design was done about 40 years ago. “Development of the city comes in phases. Each district has all complementary provisions. As a citizen of Nigeria, we are all indigenes of Abuja because the whole of the 8, 000 square kilometres has become Federal Government land. “From 1976 that Abuja was created, every Nigerian has become an indigene of Abuja so whether you are talking of Hausas, Gbagyi, Yoruba, and Igbira that is residing in any part of this city the government has two policies; resettlement/compensation and integration.
“The Gbagyis were resettled and compensated. Anywhere that you see any settlement now, they are only waiting for resettlement and compensation or integration depending on the area. Where there is a clear provision to resettle the residents, they will be resettled. The lands were allocated by the Federal Government and not the Federal Capital Territory Administration.”