Mr El-Rufai, who came to office on 29 May 2015, is completing his eight-year tenure as Kaduna governor on 29 May, 2023.
A Kaduna-based firm, Canes Properties Limited, has written letters of appeal to Governor Nasir El-Rufai over the revocation of titles to nine properties in Kaduna State. The state said the company failed to develop the plots years after it acquired them.
The company implored the governor to give it more time to develop the properties.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the company, controlled by members of ex-Governor Ahmed Makarfi's family, received notices of revocation of the plots on 17 May. Mr Makarfi, a chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), governed Kaduna between 1999 and 2007.
On 19 May, the company wrote letters of appeal to Governor El-Rufai, asking to be allowed more time to develop the properties. The letters were signed by Ibrahim Mohammed Makarfi, the group managing director of the company.
In four letters seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the company gave various reasons for not having developed the properties.In the appeal for revocation of its right of occupancy of KDL 53874 Plot No. CC12, Mogadishu Layout, the company requested a grace period of one year to develop the land. The company explained that it had submitted drawings to the development control agency, KASUPDA, for planning approval for a shopping complex.
A second letter of appeal was also sent to the governor requesting three months grace to commence building more structures on three plots of land on Kwato Road, with file numbers KDL 01868, KDL 79707 and KDL 79709.
The company said the three revoked plots (Plots 1, Ic and 1E, Kwato Road) "are part of our six plots in the name of Canes Properties and we already have buildings on three plots and remaining three plots as garden. If however structures have to be constructed in the affected plots instead of garden we request Your Excellency to give us three months to commence to do more structures."
The third letter of appeal from Canes Properties covered four plots of land: KDL 264596, with Plots C1 and C2, and KDL 264603, with Plots C3 and C5. Canes argued that it had applied for recertification and paid all the required charges but is awaiting receipt of certificates of occupancy. It added that it had submitted the development plan to KASUPDA, pending getting the CofOs.
Canes disclosed in its fourth letter of appeal that it did not develop the plot covered by KDL 40546 because a major water pipeline is passing through parts of the land.
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Kaduna government officials were evasive Tuesday when PREMIUM TIMES asked them if there would be any positive response by the administration to the letters of appeal by the company.
One official, however, disclosed that Canes Properties made a similar pledge to develop its plot back in 2018 when the El-Rufai government revoked one of its several undeveloped properties.
"The reason for the 2018 rumpus was the government's allocation of the revoked plot to an investor, Sahad Stores, to build a shopping mall in the Mogadishu Layout in Kaduna," asking not to be named since he is not the official spokesperson to the government.
"Canes challenged that revocation in court, but withdrew the matter when former governor Makarfi was pointedly accused of being an obstacle to development for trying to block an investor who was ready to bring money and jobs."
The official added that the Sahad Stores complex was opened earlier this year, but that the nine Cane Properties plots remained undeveloped, angering the Kaduna government.
Ibrahim Makarfi, the group managing director of Cane Properties, could not be reached for comments Tuesday evening. Multiple calls to the telephone numbers listed on his letters to Governor El-Rufai failed to connect.
Muyiwa Adekeye, the special adviser on media and publicity to Governor El-Rufai did not answer or return calls seeking his comments for this story.
Mr El-Rufai, who came to office on 29 May 2015, is completing his eight-year tenure as Kaduna governor on 29 May, 2023.
