By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
The last have not been heard over the demolition exercise embarked upon by the new governor of Kano state, Abba Kabir Yusuf as the immediate past governor of the state, Umar Ganduje on Friday met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu behind closed doors over the on-going demolition in the commercial city.
Speaking to State House Correspondents after the meeting with the President, Ganduje accused his former boss, former governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of masterminding the spate of demolition of legitimately erected structures being carried out by the agents of Kano state government led by Governor Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
He accused Kwankwaso of engineering the demolition of public properties in Kano even as he called it a political witch-hunting, arguing that due process was not followed before the multi-billion properties were demolished by the new government.
Ganduje described the demolition of properties as a flagrant disregard to the globally accepted principle of fair hearing.
Specifically, he accused Kwankwaso of carrying out a vendetta by instigating Gov Yusuf whom he described as the stooge of the NNPP Presidential flag bearer in the last general election, to order the demolition exercise in Kano.
Said he: “In the past few days Kano has been in the mourning mood as the government has embarked on indiscriminate demolition of people’s properties. Till date, the state government demolished at least three properties it claimed were illegally sold by the immediate past administration”.
Amongst the properties he lamented was demolished are three-storey building with 90 shops on a race course at the Nasarawa GRA and multiple floor Daula Hotel, a three-star hotel reconstructed by the Ganduje administration under a Private Public Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
He claimed the government also demolished another structure, at Hajj Camp, sold to private individuals.
Asked if he met Kwankwaso who was also in the Villa to see the President, an enraged Ganduje said “I learnt that Rabiu Kwankwaso was also at the Villa to see President Tinubu but I didn’t meet with him. If I had met him (Kwankwaso), I would have slapped him”.
Prompt News reports that Lamash Properties Limited, the developer of Daula Hotel, which was demolished by the Kano State Government, has said it will sue the government and demand N10 billion as compensation for the demolition.
The company’s Director of Sales, Aliyu Abubakar, in a statement to reporters last week described the demolition of its properties as a flagrant disregard to the globally accepted principle of fair hearing.
Abubakar claimed their company was invited by the Kano State government alongside other companies sometime in late 2020 to bid for the redevelopment of the old Daula Hotel under a PPP.
