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Nigeria: Why We Demolished Catholic Church - Kano Govt
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Leadership (Abuja)
22 June 2008
Posted to the web 23 June 2008
Mansur Sani Malam
Kano
Kano State government has explained that the structures of the Christ the King Catholic Church, were demolished by the Kano State Urban Planning Development Agency (KANUPDA) because the Church officials refused to acquire Certificate of Occupancy before commencing building.
Explaining this to news men during a press briefing, managing director of KANUPDA, Dayyabu Zubairu Gano, said the temporary structure of the church at Na'ibawa in Kumbotso local government was removed, after serving them a notice four months ago, advising them to prove its legitimacy or remove it within time.
He added that at a meeting of various stakeholders on March 5, 2008, involving the issue, part of the resolution was that KANUPDA must ensure the demolishing of the structure in accordance with the provision of the law.
Dayyabu Gano explained that the agency wrote a letter on March 27, 2008 calling the attention of the owners of the church, to recall the resolutions of the meeting and the previous notice in order to make arrangement to clear their structures, or else the authority according to him, will have no alternative than to take final action.
He stated that a seven day notice was also given to the church officials, before they sent a letter on the March 31, 2008, pleading on the issue at stake afterwhich the authority of KANUPDA advised them further as appropriate. He added that the removal exercise was not carried out earlier, due to the pleading made by the church officials.
The MD said adequate information and notice was already served to the Church that it is illegal for them to erect the structures, because there is no evidence of issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy to them.
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A source from the church alleged that officials of the church have for over ten years applied for the Certificate of the Occupancy, but were not granted by the state government.
The demolition was not right.If it was a Mosque will they demolish it? Does it mean all churches and Mosques in Kano state have COF? meanwhile the church said they have applied for over ten years without being considered. Kano state government should have a re-think and not present itself as a Sharia state which maybe they are idont know. There should equal treatment for all in the Northern states of Nigeria.Even though Northern Nigeria is predorminantly Moslem,they Christians should be given equal rights.
The difference is clear in the two religions; Islam is a religion of imposition with force of arms whereas Christianity is religion of free will based on conviction. It is less than truthful for the Kano Government to offer such a convoluted excuse for demolishing a place of worship.
The truth of matter is that the Muslims are freaking scared that the church in the heart of Kano would be a stand post to convert willing Muslims into the Christians religion. The Christians never quarrel when one of them decides to become a Muslim because he/she simply exercised his his/her... [Read Full Text]
The government of this particular state should be careful to avoid religious descrimination and incitement to religious unrest. IT SHOULD LEARN TO TREAT ALL RELIGIOUS GROUPS EQUALLY.
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