The Masallacin Eid Shop Owners and Traders Association (MEOTA) in Kano State has said that the state government has begun the payment of N1 billion out of the N3 billion agreed to pay to the owners of shops, which the government of Abba Kabir Yusuf illegally demolished.
This is just as the MEOTA has said that no fewer than 30 people allegedly lost their lives during and after the illegal demolition carried out by the state government
Speaking on behalf of the MEOTA on Thursday, Barrister Maaruf Muhammed Yakasai, while addressing a press conference alongside members of the traders at the state headquarters of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), disclosed that despite the state government having started the payment, the MEOTA has petitioned the Kano state police command to investigate the criminal aspect of it.
He added that in view of the psychological trauma, untold hardship, and untimely death suffered, the MEOTA has decided to write a letter of petition to the Nigeria Police on complaints of alleged criminal conspiracy, theft, and criminal misappropriation against that act while carrying out the illegal demotion.
Barrister Yakasai stated that “the 5th day of May 2023 was the black day for the traders and owners of shops and thousands of people getting their means of livelihood in the area.”
He disclosed that “at about 01:00 hours, after we all closed our shops and businesses, the democratically elected government of Kano State, under the leadership of Abba Kabir Yusuf, without any notice or opportunity for our members to pack their goods and other movable properties, with no iota of sympathy, demolished the structures and shops in the area.”
He added, “Selfish individuals with criminal minds were also encouraged by the government to loot our properties as the demolishing was ongoing. They described our hard-earned properties as public properties and declared them free for all.”
Consequently, the suspects succeeded in destroying all the structures, shops, goods, and cash kept in some shops, rendering the victims helpless, poor, and jobless without any justification whatsoever.”
Some of the victims lost their lives; some are now patients with different illnesses, including the killer ‘stroke’.
The victims’ orphans and children are left with no parental care and attention; many are rendered homeless; poor or no education; and no medical care because breadwinners are either dead or have lost their means of livelihood.
The total estimated value of the properties lost and destroyed is two hundred and sixty billion Naira (N260,000,000.00).
‘We know as a fact that the government has the power to revoke any right of occupancy, but only in the overriding public interest. Also, sufficient notice must be served and compensation paid before the revocation.”
These requirements were never satisfied by the government; no attempt was made whatsoever. It is also against the Law to carry out such an operation in the middle of the night
Dissatisfied with the act of the suspects, our client instituted an action seeking the enforcement of their fundamental right to own property enshrined under Chapter 1V of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) before the Federal High Court in suit No. FHC/CS/208/2023 between the Incorporated Trustees of Masallacin Eid Shop Owners and Traders Association and Kano State Government & Ors.
He said the MEOTA has now called on the law enforcement agency to investigate the criminal aspect of the act, adding that “we, the members of the association, have suffered from psychological trauma as a result of the unlawful acts of the suspects, either directly or indirectly, including the destruction and loss of their properties worth billions of naira that were stolen, in addition to the loss of business and means of livelihood.
It is against the above background that we are appealing to your good office to cause a criminal investigation to be conducted in this case to ensure that justice is done for us.
We are asking your good office to conduct a thorough criminal investigation into the matter, especially with respect to the offences against property and humanity, as some have passed on, some are sick as a result of the torture, and the rich are now poor.
We need the criminal aspect to be investigated and the guilty to face the full wrath of the law. We also urge your good self to consider and build on the judgement of the Federal High Court, Kano Division, that described the action of the suspects as illegal, unconstitutional, and barbaric.
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