Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working under the Good Governance and Change Initiative (GGCI) have given Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf a 72-hour deadline to halt the ongoing demolition or face legal action. In Kano, less than two weeks after taking office, the governor began demolishing “illegal” structures worth billions of naira.
Illegal structures built in schools, mosques, playgrounds, graveyards, markets, and hospitals, he said, would be demolished to ensure strict adherence to urban planning, beautification, and public safety.
But, speaking at a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja, the National Coordinator of the GGCI, Okpokwu Ogenyi, said it was wrong for the governor to cause so much pain to the state’s citizens so soon after taking office, rather than studying the handover notes and planning to make life better for the citizens.
He said;
We believed that the situation in Kano if not called to order is capable of causing unrest which may affect the whole country. Something must be done urgently to stop this madness.
The government claimed that the previous administration allocated government lands to individuals and corporate bodies, is it not the responsibility of the government to allocate lands? The land use act says individual own no land, all land belong to the government. What is the offence of the citizens who genuinely acquired land from the government?
We call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to quickly intervene and call Governor Abba Yusuf to order to stop further illegal demolition of property in the state.