SAN FRANCISCO, March 05, (THEWILL) – The recent demolition of a house in Kaduna by Governor Nasir El-Rufai, has opened a can of worms in the state’s murky politics.
The property, belonging to a federal lawmaker from Kaduna North, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, was the secretariat of a faction of the All Progressives Congress.
While we concede that the governor has the right to demolish illegal property, the circumstance under which the house was pulled down, has raised speculations that it was politically motivated.
This arose from the fact that the APC faction that used the building as its secretariat had recently suspended the governor from the party.
The state government’s reasons for the demolition appear to have affirmed the political inclination. This much could be deduced from a statement by the Director-General of the Kaduna Geographical Information Service (KADGIS), Ibrahim Husseini.
Husseini had explained that the property was demolished for alleged violation of the state’s Land Use Act and Hunkuyi’s failure to pay ground rent for a period of eight years.
But, Hunkuyi, in his reaction alleged victimization claiming that El-Rufai personally drove the bulldozer that carried out the demolition, and was protected by the military.
He added that the governor had earlier marked another property of his for demolition, which was resisted by residents of the area.
Rightly, Hunkuyi described the governor’s action as “hate taken too far over political disagreement in the state.”
Added to the political dimension is the allegation that the governor also ordered the demolition of a house belonging to the former caretaker committee Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Senator Ahmed Makarfi.
THEWILL condemns the entire saga and enjoins the governor to tow the path of honour by not only apologizing to Hunkuyi, but also paying him compensation for the damage.
Not paying ground rent is not an excuse for demolishing a property under the Nigerian statutes. THEWILL aligns with the positions of Shehu Sani, the Senator representing Kaduna Central, and another adversary of the governor and that of Prof. Itse Sagay that he went too far in his action.
It is ironic to note that the property served as APC’s state secretariat in 2015 when the governor ran his campaign for office on the party’s ticket.
We counsel against politics of bitterness, and task El-Rufai to deploy executive powers with responsibility. The governor could easily have mandated Hunkuyi to immediately pay any outstanding fees for ground rent if that is indeed the case.
The APC controlled federal government must prevail on El-Rufai to tow the line of caution in his political battles in the state, so that the usually restive state does not erupt in violence and become ungovernable.
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