The government claimed that the aerial view of the monument formed a cross.
The Kano State government has revealed the real reason for demolishing a cultural monument at a popular roundabout in the city.
The structure commissioned by the immediate past government of Abdullahi Ganduje was designed in 2017 by Kaltume Bulama, a virtual artist, to mark the state's golden jubilee.
According to the government the monument showcased the culture, commercial history and cosmopolitan nature of the city.
Responding to the outrage that followed the demolition of the monument on Wednesday, the Secretary to the State Government, Abdullahi Baffa, said the monument was pulled down because it carried the Christian symbol of the cross sign.
Mr Baffa, who is the former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, said it was wrong for such a Christian symbol to appear on a public structure in Kano, which is a majority Muslim state.
He told local radio stations that the state government is also planning to redesign the Muhammadu Buhari flyover constructed by the past administration in the state because it also formed a cross from the air.
"The design in the roundabout is blocking road users' front view because of its size. Secondly, if you use a drone shot of the aerial view of the monument you will see a sign of a cross and in Kano we are 99.9 per cent if not 100 per cent Muslims (and) you cannot put a cross sign in the front of a government house.
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"Photos showing Kano State has two big crosses, big ones! The one in front of the government house and the one built on the Muhammadu Buhari Interchange flyover at the Hotoro area. The flyover, also from its aerial view you will see a big cross and we now planning to redesign it and remove the cross sign", Mr Baffa told Freedom Radio.He said the demolition exercise will continue and all government properties within and outside Kano sold by the former administration were illegal because the government sold them to their cronies and they shall be reclaimed by the incumbent administration.
The state government has demolished several structures mostly in commercial areas it claimed were illegally sold by the immediate past administration.
The demolition began last Saturday. So far the government has demolished a three-storey building with 90 shops on a race course at the Nasarawa GRA, and the Daula Hotel, a three-star hotel reconstructed by the Ganduje administration under a Private Public Partnership arrangement.
The government also demolished another structure, at Hajj Campa sold to private individuals by the immediate past administration of the state.
