Irked by the alleged sworn threat by Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai to demolish over 3,500 houses at Gbagyi Villa, Kaduna, residents of the area have called on all people of goodwill to help prevail on the governor to act within the law and not engage the rule of might in the demolition of their houses.
They urged El-Rufai “to be fair to everybody. We may be powerless against you in the protection of our property rights but all powers belong to God Almighty. If you will not allow the court to hear our complaints, you may close the door of justice on us but be assured that you cannot close our access to the throne of the Almighty God who is the liberator of the oppressed. God Almighty will hear the cries of the oppressed and He will certainly answer speedily.”
Addressing a press conference on Thursday in Gbagyi Villa in the presence of the residents, who were dressed in black attire, the chairman, Gbagyi Villa Property Owners Association, Mr. Chris Obodumu Abba, said, “From 2009 to 2011, our Gbagyi Villa community had a minor boundary dispute with Kaduna Polytechnic which late governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa of blessed memory intervened in, settled through a committee and issued a government White Paper that clearly re-established the boundary between Gbagyi Villa and Kaduna Polytechnic with a sketch plan produced and signed by the Surveyor General of Kaduna State on that effect.
“Our Gbagyi Villa community and Kaduna Polytechnic were living happily since the resolution of the boundary dispute in 2011 umtil sometime in late 2015 up to 4th March, 2016 when the governor of Kaduna State, through Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority, KASUPDA, caused demolition notices to be passed on all the buildings at Gbagyi Villa village, alleging that we breached section 26 & 27 of KASUPDA law by not obtaining planning permissions before building our houses. This is untrue for we were granted permission by the government before we built our houses.
“After the service of the demolition notices, the governor of Kaduna State granted press interviews wherein he threatened the demolition of our houses come rain, come shine.
“As law abiding citizens, we took our complaint to the law courts against the governor, the chief law officer of the state and KASUPDA for the court to determine our rights to acquire and own properties in Nigeria as Nigerian citizens.
“We sought for and obtained an order of the Honourable Court restraining the governor, KASUPDA and others from carrying out the threatened demolition of our houses pending the time the court will determine our case.
“However, on Thursday, the 21st of July, 2016, the governor, the General Manager of KASUPDA and the Rector of Kaduna Polytechnic stormed our Gbagyi Villa Village with truck loads of soldiers and policemen and the governor threatened that he would carry out the demolition of Gbagyi Villa under the force of arms and called us criminals.
“We are very shocked and dismayed that the governor who rode to power upon our mandate and the political slogan that he would end impunity and ensure the rule of law is today not only a preacher of impunity but a practitioner of impunity and disrespect for the rule of law.
“The governor has called us unprintable names and condemned us as criminals, when no court of law has convicted us as such. He has chosen to and has a sworn determination to disrespect the legal prowess in court, and to use force regardless of our rights, to render us homeless with our families on our ancestral land.”
It will be recalled that Governor El-Rufai has insisted that all illegal structures built on Kaduna Polytechnic land at Gbagyi village will be demolished in spite of pleas from the citizens for the state governor to honour the agreement reached between the Polytechnic and late governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa.
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