Demolition: Kano Govt Kicks As Court Orders N30bn Compensation

A Federal High Court sitting in Kano has ordered Kano State government to pay the Incorporated Trustees of Eid Grand Shop all (Filin Idi) Owners N30 billion as compensation for the unlawful demolition of their properties.

Ruling in the suit brought before it challenging the demolition exercise, the court held that the state government carried out the demolition exercise without recourse to the law.

The suit was brought before the court by some of the traders under the umbrella of the Incorporated Trustees of ‘Massallacin Eid Shop Owners’. Ordereing the government to pay the traders N30 billion as compensation for the illegal demolition of their properties, the judge, Samuel Amobeda, ruled that the action of the Kano State government against the applicants was barbaric and unconstitutional. Kano State governor, Abba Yusuf, had ordered the demolition of certain properties across Kano Metropolis, which he claimed the immediate past government sold illegally.

Some of the properties demolished include a three-storey building with 90 shops on a race course at the Nasarawa GRA. Daula Hotel is a three-star hotel reconstructed by the Ganduje administration under a Private Public Partnership arrangement.

The government also demolished another structure, at Hajj Camp, sold to private individuals by the immediate past administration of the state and shops erected in parts of the Kofar Mata, Eid prayer ground.

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The owners of the demolished properties sued the Kano government over the demolition. Meanwhile, the state government hinted yesterday that it has filed a fresh case seeking the court to determine whether the lands on which the shops were erected were legally obtained by them.

This was made known to journalists in Kano on Friday by the state attorney general and commissioner for Justice, Haruna Isa Dederi, while responding on the verdict of the court.

The commissioner for Justice also called on those concerned not to quickly jump into celebration because the judgement had not touched on the issue of legal ownership of the lands.

“In anticipation of the outcome of the Federal High Court judgement, we have since prepared our documents to appeal the judgement at the Court of in Kano.

“Apart from that, there is also a new suit that we have filed. The case will commence next week by God’s grace. We petitioned the court that the lands on which the property were erected were illegally obtained. “Hence, whatever is going to be presented on that issue is not something that the law will entertain.”