The Umar Ganduje-led Kano State Government has reportedly seized and
demolished a property worth N250million belonging to the Emir of Kano
Muhammadu Sanusi II.
On Wednesday, Daily Nigerian said its investigation with Kano Focus
Newspapers revealed that the property, located at Ibrahim Dabo Road,
was demolished to pave way for the ongoing flyover and underpass being
constructed at the Dangi Roundabout area.
The demolition of structures within the land and the fence was
supervised by the Commissioner of Works, Engr. Muaz Magaji, on Friday,
15 November, 2019, days before the Kano High Court presided by Justice
Usman Na’abba nullified the law that created new emirates and the
emirs in Kano.
On anonymity, some officials of the Ministry of Lands disclosed that
Emir Sanusi purchased the 1.2 hectare land in 2010 at the cost of
N200million.
They added that the land was recently valued N250million at commercial
rate, but the state government insisted that payment would be made in
accordance with the statutory land rate.
Sanusi’s Chief of Staff, Munir Sanusi, declined comment.
He explained that the monarch had not given him clearance to speak on
the matter.
In his reaction, the commissioner claimed that the Kano government had
paid compensation to the emir.
“I can tell you he got the alert. For eight months, this issue has
stalled the project, and this project is for public interest. We were
even hoping that the Emir would give us the land free to continue with
the work”, Magaji said.
“But since he did not give it to us, we decided to engage the service
of valuers who valued it according to the statutory land rate because
the government does not engage in commercial purchase”.
The commissioner also confirmed that he personally mounted the Grade
D9 bulldozer to pull down the said the structures.
But sources say statutory land rate the government paid Sanusi was a
paltry N4million.
Meanwhile, Malam Muazu Shuaibu, the Secretary-General of Islamic
Foundation, an NGO which owns a portion of land hosting the shops
affected by the bridge project, has accused the Kano government of
snatching their land without due compensation.
He explained that the shops were leased out to developers on a Build
Operate and Transfer, BOT arrangement for a period of 20 years with
the aim of generating funds to maintain the Umar Bin Khattab Mosque.
Shuaibu said: “They sent valuers to make an assessment on what amount
to give to each allotee. But we told them that they cannot proceed
with the demolition until payments have been made to the
beneficiaries.
