Demolition: Court awards N30 billion compensation against Kano Govt

A Federal High Court sitting in Kano has ordered the Kano State Government to pay shop owners around Massallacin Eid in Kofar-Mata, Kano Municipal Local Government area of the state the sum of N30 billion as compensation for unlawful demolition of their shops without following due processes laid down by law.

The presiding judge, Justice Samuel Amobeda while delivering his judgment, awarded the sum of N30 billion compensation as against the N250 billion requested by the applicants.

Justice Amobeda maintained that the action of the Kano State Government against the applicants was barbaric and unconstitutional.

Recall that the state government under the leadership of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf had carried out demolition exercise of what it termed illegal structures erected on government land.

Responding to the judgment, the Kano State government said it has approached the Court of Appeal to challenge the judgment.

The State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Bar. Haruna Isa Dederi said apart from the Appeal Court, it has also instituted a legal action to challenge the land ownership upon which the shops were built as they were illegally acquired.

“Right from the onset, we have informed the court that it lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the case. But it went on and entertain the case being all it can do. 

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

“Apart from that there is also a new suit that we 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.

“For example, the Federal High Court did not consider the issue of ownership of the land in its today’s judgment. Those who sued the government in the matter were in court to prove that their property were illegally demolished. This is their demand from the court. They were not at the court to prove that they are owners of the lands on which they erected property. 

“If you review the case you will see that the court did not talk about the aspect of legal land ownership because it knows it has no jurisdiction for that. 

“So, it is this aspect that we have now filed and put before the court, to determine the legality of land ownership. 

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“Laws that have to do with land ownership in the state are under the executive powers of the Governor. There is no law and there is nothing anyone can do to stop the Governor from doing what he did. There is no way you can stop the government from acting in the best interest of the public by going to court.

“I want to disabuse the minds of the public from engaging in any form of celebration in this regard that the court has declared that they be paid N30 billion. They should rather wait for the final judgement. 

“To those who are affected, I want to let you know that the government will never relent in it’s effort of acting in the interest of the general public. The lands belong to the government and no one is doubting this. Not even the court that gave this judgement has said that the government has no right to the lands. The court only reviewed the issue of payment of damages. The case was that of my property has illegally been demolished and I want to be paid damages and not on the issue of ownership of the land.

“But the case we have before the court is that of reviewing the ownership of the land. Were the lands legally issued or not? Is it legally justifiable to fish out public owned property to individuals or not? These are things the court will look into and this is what we are seeking from the court.

“Now we are going to court to resolve the issue of ownership of the land whether they legally belonged to them or not. 

“The position of the state government on this is that it does not accept the judgement and is going to appeal. We have since filed our appeal on the case,” the Commissioner of Justice, Bar. Dederi however maintained.