The Butcher of Kano Called Abba Yusuf

RingTrue  

By  Yemi Adebowale

Phone    08054699539

Email: yemi.adebowale@thisdaylive.com

Pictures coming out of Kano State are depressing. Pictures of fully and partially demolished structures cluttering this once dry-eyed state. Now, tears are flowing uncontrollably; tears that may never dry. Thousands affected directly and indirectly are wailing and asking for justice. Scores of buildings have been completely or partly demolished by the vindictive Governor Abba Yusuf in the last three weeks. It is shocking that this confused governor also demolished Duala Hotel and all the structures within the premises, a property partly owned by the Kano State Government. The location was assigned to a private firm under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement by the Ganduje administration. So, Yusuf simply demolished a property belonging to the government. What madness! The whole of Kano is now looking like a war zone.

Governor Yusuf who emerged on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is on a vendetta mission. He is out to destroy everything with links to former governor Abdullahi Ganduje. And he is callously doing it. For me, his demolitions amount to settling political scores with Ganduje. The people of Kano State voted for Yusuf with the hope that he would bring further development to the state. They want him to push out people-oriented programmes. These positives are not happening. Unfortunately, Governor Yusuf is now a source of sorrow to thousands of residents of this state with his absurd demolitions.

I shed tears when I saw the pictures of hundreds of shops demolished at two shopping plazas – the one near Sani Abacha Stadium and another one on IBB Road – and the wailing of the shop owners. Affected owners and tenants are devastated and struggling to recover. Rents and goods have gone down the drain no thanks to calamity Abba Yusuf.

Ibrahim Muhammad, who was a vendor of women’s wears in one of the demolished plazas, recounted the distressing incident in which his shop was broken into and valuable merchandise stolen: “Some of them broke in from behind, while others removed doors, windows, and other building materials. They seized the opportunity presented by the demolition to pillage our stores.”

Abdussalam Abdullahi, who was operating a shop selling boxes, shared a similar experience: “We were not informed that our location was among the areas slated for demolition. To our surprise, criminals broke into our shop and made off with our products, facing no opposition from the authorities.”

Governor Yusuf claims the structures he demolished were built on public facilities “immorally plundered and sold by the Ganduje administration.”  Mr. Governor, these public facilities were legally allocated to the investors. The facts are there. It was a lawful government that assigned the land, in whatever form of arrangement, to the developers. So, the law should be followed if such allocations are to be revoked.

This is not the first time public facilities will be legally allocated or concessioned to investors for development in this country. It is not the first time government houses will be allocated to occupants. In fact, Governor Yusuf’s godfather, Rabiu Kwankwaso, as governor, allocated public properties to private developers. A good example here will be the buildings opposite BUK old campus allocated by Kwankwaso to private developers during his tenure.

I’m happy that Ganduje has challenged Kwankwaso on the sale of government land while he governed the state. He alleged that the policy was introduced when he was Kwankwaso’s deputy. Ganduje said: “I stand to be challenged that the Kwankwaso administration in which I served as deputy governor began the sales of government properties in the state. If I am to call out names of senior government workers and politicians that bought government houses, we can spend the night counting. Kwankwaso and I introduced that policy; we sold houses, most of them to workers, some to politicians.

“This is nothing new. I worked in Abuja. I resided in a government house and at last, the federal government sold it to me. They are saying that we have sold government houses not knowing that his father in politics, his grandfather in politics, was the one who started selling government houses.”

Honestly, it is unfair to demolish buildings legally acquired by indigenes and investors from the Ganduje Government. There is no justification for these heartless demolitions. Forget about stories that the structures were illegally built and approved by the Ganduje administration or stories that they were government assets illegally allocated. Forget about Governor Yusuf’s claim that the demolitions are part of the fulfillment of his campaign promise to restore the urban development master-plan of the city. It’s a ruse aimed at justifying the sordid demolitions. In any case, the governor should have taken owners of the structures to court if he truly believes in the rule of law.

The developers got land allocations from the government, fulfilled all the conditions of the law and developed the structures. Based on the rule of law, Governor Yusuf is supposed to first notify the developers about these so-called illegal acquisitions, set up a commission of inquiry and let them defend their acquisitions. He can then proceed to court with the report of the inquiry commission. Yusuf has to be fair to the developers. They ought to have been given fair hearing on how they came about their properties. The principle of fair hearing is clear and sacred all over the world. It is a shame that the Kano governor commenced demolitions before setting up a commission of inquiry. He just got up and started demolishing buildings.

I need to go back to the demolition of Daula Hotel, so that we can all understand that Governor Yusuf messed up big time. Lamash Properties Limited, the developer of the old Daula Hotel, was invited by the state’s government, alongside other companies sometime in 2020 to bid for the redevelopment of the old Daula Hotel under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

Its bid, like every other bid was submitted, went through all the processes, including going before the State Executive Council, after which the firm won. It was issued the letter of award and signed a PPP contract agreement with the Kano State Government and Lamash began work on the project. The land is the equity contribution of the Kano State Government, making it a part owner.

But Governor Yusuf went there on June 4 with bulldozers and destroyed all the buildings on the land, including the already completed 90-room 5-star Daula Boutique Hotel, the 90 per cent completed malls as well as ongoing residential apartments. Is there any sense in this? Lamash Properties is owned by Aliyu Abubakar. His only offence is that he backed Ganduje during the 2023 elections in Kano State.

Hundreds of indigenes of Kano, including women in the puddle were on the streets of Kano on Wednesday to protest the devilish demolitions by Yusuf. Some of the placards carried by the demonstrators read: “Your action Governor Yusuf is sending investors away, stop this bad action”, “Your demolition action is political”, “the demolition is vendetta”, “we did not vote for you to demolish structures” and “Kwankwaso also allocated land to people.”

One of the leaders of the protesters, Zahradeen Baba, stated: “It is unfortunate that within six days in office, the perceived messiah (Abba) became a source of sorrow to many residents and indigenes of Kano State, who acquired land from the Ganduje administration, when the governor ordered the demolition of properties worth over N226 billion within three weeks in office. Governor Yusuf is using people’s hard-earned assets to settle political scores with the previous administration, which is a bad development.

“Some of those who lost their lives to this demolition are people who voted for Governor Yusuf during the last elections. Is this the best way to reward them for voting for Abba Yusuf? We call on the Governor to also compensate the families of those who lost their lives to this reckless demolition even though their loss is irreparable. Mr. Governor, these are enough reasons for you to revert to governance instead of political vendetta.”

The good news is that a Federal High Court sitting in Kano has restrained the state government from further demolition of some structures located along BUK road. The applicant, Saminu Muhammadu, succeeded in getting the court to restrain Governor Yusuf and his agents from the planned demolition of his property on BUK road or revoking the land titles. Some of those whose buildings have been demolished are in court pleading for justice. Owners of marked buildings should also go to court.  One thing is certain: They will all get justice.

Governor Abba’s spiteful and anarchic demolitions are sending negative signals to potential investors. Score have lost their investments. Nobody would want to put money in this state again. Thousands have also lost jobs to the demolitions. This is definitely not a government of the people, for the people of Kano State.

Few days back, the governor ordered Kano State’s accountant-general, Abdulkadir Abdusalam, to stop the salaries of 10,800 workers employed by Ganduje. He said an investigation would be carried out to establish the authenticity of the workers’ engagement. “Those illegally recruited will be removed,” declared Abba. What nonsense! For Governor Abba, it’s all about obliterating everything done by Ganduje. If Abba continues this way, his end won’t be palatable.

A Word for Acting Customs CG

The newly appointed acting comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi, assumed office this week with a promise to “build on the solid foundation” laid by his predecessor, Hammed Ali. The solid foundation associated with Ali during his tenure has to do with ineptitude and corruption in the Customs. I sincerely hope Adeniyi is not planning to build on these negatives.

Allegations of corruption in the NCS under Ali were massive. In 2021, I remember seeing the Vice-Chairman, 9th Senate Committee on Customs and Excise, Francis Fadahunsi, calling for the removal of Ali because of corruption. This Senator is a retired Assistant Comptroller General of Customs and surely knew what he was saying.

Back then, the Senator remarked: “Massive corruption is going on under Ali’s watch and the country is losing so much money due to this. Concerning the seizure and disposal of contraband goods, Ali has not rendered any returns in the past six years. The amount estimated from these runs into trillions of Naira. He has also not made any public auction according to the Auction Sales Code.

“The CG has not audited his accounts in the past six years. If he (Ali) says he has done that, let him publish the audited report. Let him also publish what he has made on the auction of seized goods since he resumed. That should be subjected to a forensic audit. He has never told us what he made from overtime cargoes and containers.”

My dear Adeniyi, you are aware of the above quotations.  So, you should not be talking about sustaining Ali’s legacy of corruption. Adeniyi, you have been appointed to reform the NCS, fight corruption and increase revenue collections. A corruption-free Customs can remit at least N10 trillion into the federation account yearly. But this has not been the case. Corruption in the NCS has left Nigeria’s borders porous.

Massive smuggling of petroleum products to neighbouring countries was one of the reasons given for the removal of fuel subsidy. Adeniyi, your men are actively facilitating smuggling. This is the truth that must be told. Huge revenue is lost daily at the ports and borders to under-declaration done in connivance with your men. These are some of the frauds you must fight in order to make a difference. Singing the praise of the Hammed Ali era is preposterous.