DEMOLITION: Court slams N30 billion damages against Kano State government
Kano State government has been ordered to pay the sum of N30 billion to Kofar Mata Eid Ground traders whose places of business were said to have been demolished by the government.
Hon Justice S. A. Amobeda of the Federal High Court gave the order on Friday in a judgement that shook the government. He awarded N10 billion for the breach of the rights of the plaintiffs and another N20 billion as general damages.
Plaintiff in the case, the Incorporated Trustees of Eid Shop Owners and Others had sued the Kano State Government, KNUPDA, the Attorney-Generalof the State, the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Kano State Commissioner of Police Force, the Nigeria Police Force, NSCDC and Others.
Kano State governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, had embarked on a demolition venture immediately he assumed the mantle of leadership in the state, claiming that the buildings affected were either not legally erected by the preceding government or that the property upon which they were erected were not legally acquired.
Critics of his administration had questioned the rationale behind his “arbitrary” actions, saying he had taken the law into his hands.
Nigerian Sketch had reported earlier how the Federal High Court had restrained Kano State government from selling the business premises it demolished at the Kofar Mata Eid Ground in the state to foreigners.
Justice Amobeda, in a fundamental human rights suit filed on behalf of 56 applicants who sued for themselves and on behalf of all members of the Masallacin Eid Shop Owners and Traders Association, also restrained the Nigeria Police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) from partaking in further actions that may deprive the applicants of their interests in the business premises in question.
The applicants’ counsel, N. A. Ayagi, in a Motion Exparte he filed on the 13th day of July, 2023, had asked the court to restrain the state government and concerned security agencies from selling off the premises to foreigners or anyone else.
The court categorically said that the Kano State government is “restrained from unlawfully alienating or transferring the title to Applicants demolished business premises at Kofar Mata Eid Ground Kano, subject matter of this action to a Saudi Foreign Firm or any other person for any purpose whatsoever pending the hearing and determination of the substantive application.”
The court also ordered that the time for the hearing of the suit shall be abridged in order to allow for speedy determination.
Today’s is the final judgment in the matter.
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