Kano demolition: Community leader debunks Gov. Yusuf’s claim over land ownership

The community leaders in the Salanta quarters of the Bayero University Road in Kano have described the statement credited to the Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf that more than 70 percent of the land that falls within the Kano Polytechnic is owned by Prof. Hafta Ganduje, wife of the former Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, and her children, as falsehood.

Recall that Gov. Yusuf had on Sunday claimed that more than 70 percent of the land in question is owned by Ganduje’s wife, Prof. Hafsat Ganduje, and her children.

Speaking to newsmen on behalf of the affected community on Monday, the Salanta Community leader, Alhaji Ayuba Sani described the Governor’s claim as “falsehood”, saying, “most of the owners of the land in the area resided inside the community and they all have their Certificates of Occupancy and building permit from the Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority.”

Sani stressed that the affected residents whose houses were earmarked for demolition by the government are eager to present their documents of ownership to prove their claim.

“We’ve occupied the land since time immemorial when the place was not habitable. We bought it from the allottees who were allocated the land by the governor directly. We know ourselves, and if the governor wants to see us, we are ready to see him and prove our case,” Sani noted.

He explained that the community residents were taken aback by the dramatic turn of events which played out a few days ago, following “the marking of their houses for demolition by the state government and we came out massively to resist the threat.”

On the claim that the government made a vow to publish the names of the real owners of the lands, Sani said, “This is what we want to hear. We will be very happy to hear that or see the names of those people in print, but surprisingly, it’s the governor’s wife and her children’s name we saw.”

Meanwhile, Sani has also decried the attitude of some youths “who have been storming the community in their droves to descend on our properties.”

According to him, these youths come with their work tools to remove iron rods and other building materials and re-sell them at cheap prices to retailers across the Kano markets.

He said in spite of the situation, it is necessary that the government knows that the community leaders and the residents are well-cultured human beings with good manners, insisting that, “We are law-abiding, and that is why we followed due procedures to acquire the lands in question. We are ready to abide by any position of the government that sounds rational.”

(Punch)