A Federal High Court in Kano on Friday ordered the Kano State Government to pay the Incorporated Trustees of Eid Grand Shop Owners the sum of N30 billion as compensation for the unlawful demolition of their properties.
Sunrise reports that the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, on assumption of office in late May, ordered the demolition of shops, malls and a hotel, saying they violated Kano’s masterplan.
Some of the properties demolished include a three-storey building with 90 shops on a race course at the Nasarawa GRA; Daula Hotel, reconstructed by the administration of Abdulahi Ganduje 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.
The owners of the demolished property sued the state government, including traders under the umbrella of the Incorporated Trustees of ‘Massallacin Eid Shop Owners’ challenged the demolition at the Federal High Court.
However, the court ruled that the state government carried out the demolition exercise without recourse to the law.
The judge, Samuel Amobeda, ordered the government to pay the traders N30 billion as compensation for the illegal demolition of their property.
The fine slammed on the state government was to cover the unlawful demolition of the shops without following due processes laid down by law.
The judge said the action of the Kano State Government against the applicants was barbaric and unconstitutional.
