Jubilation as court order opposes El-Rufai on market demolition

There was pandemonium in Kaduna at the weekend as policemen dispersed traders who trooped the streets in jubilating a court order against Governor Nasir El-Rufai to pay compensation for demolishing shops and markets in the city.

The tension escalated on Sunday evening when armed Police stormed Kasuwan Barci, Tudun Wada area of Kaduna metropolis shooting tear gas and life bullets in the air, as shop owners trooped to the street, demanding Governor El-rufai to obey court order by paying them compensation over their demolished shops and markets.

The protest followed an order by Kaduna State High Court to the state government that each of the shop owners in Kasuwan Barci be reinstated into the market.

The affected shop owners called on the government to respect the rule of law by obeying the court order.

While traders were set to embark on a peaceful protest, armed policemen stormed the venue, saying “there is an order from above to stop the protest”.

Consequently, some officers and men of the Police force who were at the scene of the protest immediately dispersed the shop owners from addressing their members and journalists.

The police were also seen pulling down all the canopies arranged for the event along Kasuwan Barci axis of Dutsima road, Tudun Wada.

This later led to serious confrontation with the sister security agency; the Kaduna State Vigilante Service (KADVIS), who had earlier given security cover to the traders at the venue.

The armed policemen resorted to teargassing the crowd and firing bullets in the air to disperse the traders. But a few hours later, the shop owners regrouped at another location and addressed the Journalists.

It would be recalled that the court had on the 28 of September 2022 ruled in favour of the plaintiffs (shop owners), instructing the Kaduna state government that the shop owners be adequately compensated.

The state government had taken over the market and subsequently demolished the old structure of the market sometime in March 2020, while about 4,600 shop owners were affected. All the market locations in the State were also affected by the demolition.

The traders of the Kasuwan Barci and Raga markets all within the Kaduna metropolis being dissatisfied by the action of the state government approached the court to interpret the extent of the powers of the state government over the markets.

However, the presiding judge, Justice A. Edward Andow, in his judgment on the above-mentioned date, pronounced that the Kaduna state government lacks the constitutional powers to unilaterally take over the Kasuwan Barci market in the way and the manner it did.

“The Kaduna State government is in breach of the constitutional provision vesting the creation and operation of markets in the local govts by usurping and arrogating to itself the clear powers and function of the local government,” the court ruling stated.

In jubilation of the court order, the shop owners flooded the street of Kaduna state at the weekend, urging the government not to deny them of their right as pronounced by the court.

The Chairman, Shop Owners, Abdullahi Maikano Kaya-kaya, while addressing Journalists, explained that after receiving the vacation notice, the shop owners sought an audience with the state Governor, Nasir El-Rufai which was granted but, they could not reach any agreement.

He, however, explained that they pleaded with the Governor to either allow them to build the shops themselves by using the authorized government building plan or give them another space to relocate, pending when the government would rebuild the shops since the Governor promised to return the shops to the real owners.

The chairman added that the government refused the proposal of the shop owners, hence their decision to proceed to court.

“Our expectations of government was that, since she is aware that we built our shops ourselves on the land given to us by government, they should have either relocated the market or have adequately compensated us but instead, they ignored us and went ahead to demolish the shops,” Kaya-kaya said.

“It is our prayer that Kaduna state government will respect this judgement by reinstating us back into the market and compensate us accordingly especially because, many shop owners have died, some are sick, while a few have relocated to other towns due to the demolition.”