Abba Kabir Yusuf, the governor of Kano State, who started his regime by demolishing civilian properties with the claims that the properties are government-owned, has been prohibited from further demolishing buildings and other property in the state by the Federal High Court in Kano.
According to Punch Newspaper, The order was made by Justice S.A. Amobeda following an ex parte motion taken before him by a lawyer and Kano indigene, Saminu Muhammad.
By a decision on Friday, the court specifically barred the governor and his agents from carrying out the deliberate demolition along BUK Road, including the buildings on Nos. Salanta 41 and 43.
The court issued an injunction prohibiting “the respondents by themselves, agents, servants or proxies whatsoever called, from encroaching, trespassing, entering, invading, demolishing, revoking the applicant’s titles or doing any other act in respect of the applicant’s property, No. 41 and 43 are located in Salanta along BUK Road in Kano and are covered by Certificate of Occupancy No. As well as Certificate of Occupancy No. KNMLO8229, pending the hearing and decision on the originating motion.
The judge mandated that the respondents receive service of the order.
The Kano State Governor, the Kano State Attorney General, the Kano State Solicitor General, the Kano State Government, and the Kano State Bureau For Land Management are listed as respondents in the lawsuit.
Other organizations include the Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority, the Inspector-General of Police, the Nigeria Police Force, the Commissioner of Police, the Commandant General, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and others.
The case was postponed until July 10 to allow for additional proceedings.
In the meantime, Sanusi Balarabe, an ardent supporter of the Kwankwasiyya Movement in Kano, a crucial part of the New Nigeria People’s Party in Kano, has bemoaned the Yusuf government’s ongoing demolition of properties, calling the action unreasonable and uncalled for.
Balarabe acknowledged in a widely watched YouTube video that he and his entire family were ardent Kwankwasiyya supporters but regretted that they had not supported the Yusuf government’s plan to demolish buildings in the state.
He claimed that they supported the NNPP because they voted for Rabiu Kwankwaso, the leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement because he had historically performed admirably.
“To be completely honest, none of us supported the government knowing that it would carry out these demolitions. Destroying properties randomly is waste, which makes it blatantly unreasonable and unacceptable, according to Balarabe, the leader of the Mu Hadu Mu Gyara group.”
He lamented the fact that Kano traders owned all of the stores that were being demolished, not foreigners.
“Even if they were owned by foreigners, at least they are human beings with rights, and they increase the state’s tax base, so it would be a huge waste to destroy normally productive assets”.
“For instance, if each owner of a demolished shop paid just N1,000 in taxation to the government, it would sum up to a huge amount, which could be useful to the state,” Balarabe said.
He pointed out that rather than letting the stores go to waste, the government should have taken control of them and distributed them to the less fortunate at fair prices.
“It would be better than demolishing them, which is nothing but waste, if, for example, a small-scale trader who cannot afford N1m rent for a shop at Kasuwan Kwari was given a plot in these targeted locations for like N100,000,” he said.
In response to claims made by the government that the buildings being demolished were built illegally, Balarabe said that even in that case, due process had to be meticulously followed by first establishing a commission of inquiry and other procedures.
“The government’s decision to carry out such destruction without using legal channels is a grave error and flagrant abuse of power, and using one wrong to right another will be setting a bad example for others.
“At my level, I will advise the governor to halt the demolitions, focus on the important task we voted for, improve infrastructure, create jobs for the populace, and remind him that many otherwise productive people are being fired as a result of this obviously vindictive action. He should not let his sense of responsibility be overshadowed by personal political sentiment, he advised.
