Mustapha Kashim, a lawyer, said though the government can demolish properties, it must notify the tenants beforehand.
On 3 June, the Governor of Kano State, Abba Yusuf, ordered the flattening of a three-storey building with 90 shops located on a race course at the Nasarawa GRA. The governor gave this order barely six days after he was sworn in. In the days that followed, other notable buildings in the Kano metropolis such as the Daula Hotel, a commercial building at Hajj Camp, shops at the annexe of the Kantin Kwari textile market owned by Incorporated Trustees of Masallacin Eid Shop Owners and Traders Association were demolished.
The government further demolished buildings in Salanta Quarters, a residential neighbourhood in the Kano metropolis, amongst others.
Lawyers who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on the matter said the government's action may have violated the relevant laws of the land. Both the Nigerian constitution and the Land Use Act are key laws governing the use of land in the country.
What the law says
Section 28(6) of the Land Use Act 1978 states, "It shall be lawful for the Governor to revoke a right of occupancy for overriding public interest. The revocation of a right of occupancy shall be signified under the hand of a public officer duly authorised on that behalf by the Governor and notice thereof shall be given to the holder".
Based on the law, Mustapha Kashim, a lawyer, said though the government can demolish properties, it must notify the tenants beforehand.
He said while the governor can exercise his power of revocation of a valid statutory right of occupancy, there must be compliance with the provision of the Land Use Act 1978, particularly with regards to not only giving notice but adequate notice of revocation to the holder.
"This is because the word 'shall' is used under both section 28 (6) and section 44 of the Land Use Act. In effect, where revocation of a right of occupancy failed to comply strictly with the provision of sections 28 (6) and (7) and 44 of the Act, such revocation will be null and void and of no effect whatsoever," Mr Mustapha said citing a case between NITEL and one Ogunbiyi (1992).
"Be it noted that under our extant laws, the commando-style of storming citizens' premises with a caterpillar in the dearth of the right and demolishing structures is nothing but executive lawlessness and brigandage. Our courts frowned at this long ago as far back as 1986 when the Supreme Court condemned in strong terms such acts in the case of Lagos State and Ojukwu.
"The Land Use Act revolutionised land ownership in Nigeria. Its provisions, however, are usually construed strictly against the acquiring authority, which is the governor, and sympathetically in favour of the person whose property rights are being taken away. This was the decision in the case of Adole and Gwar as held by the Supreme Court," Mr Mustapha said.
Similarly, Nasiru Aliyu, a professor of law at the Department of Public Law, Bayero University, Kano, said the state government's action in the demolition of the properties violated the Land Use Act and the Nigerian constitution.
Mr Aliyu said there must be a procedure whether the property is acquired legally or otherwise, the procedure must be in line with the provisions of the Land Use Act. According to him, the law states that if the government wants to acquire a property, it must notify the person who owns the land, because section 44 of the constitution gives citizens a fundamental right to own property, Mr Aliyu said.
"You have to notify a person that the property was illegally acquired and the person has the right to go to court and the court will determine whether the property is properly granted or not.
"Those properties that were classified by the Kano State Government as illegally granted and the government went and demolished, in my view, the government must follow due process in either acquiring or demolishing them. If eventually, it is determined that the properties were illegally granted, it means that the owners of such properties are not entitled to any compensation.
"A government has the power to acquire property for the public interest, but the public interest must be clearly defined. A combined reading of Section 29 of the Land Use Act and Section 44 of the Constitution states that the acquiring entity (government) must pay compensation, and it must prompt and fairly, so also in giving notice and the compensation, the government is obliged to follow due process.
"Therefore, written notification of the acquisition must be served or delivered to the party concerned, shere the purpose of the acquisition is in the public interest. Hence, the government is supposed to pay compensation first before acquiring the property. Nigerian law entails that nobody's property should be taken unjustly without following due process.
"It is to be noted that in the demolition case of properties, particularly, the Filin Idi Shops, the Federal High Court ruled that the demolition exercise was illegal, null and void. I know there are also many other similar cases against the government over the breach of fundamental rights of the owners of properties in Kano that were either demolished or earmarked for demolition by the Kano State Government. By the Government agreeing to pay the sum of N3 billion out of the N30 billion judgement sum, it shows that the government had admitted that they ought not to have done what they had done.
"It is interesting to note that, the Kano Judicial Division of the Federal High Court's Judgement awarding the sum of N30 billion compensation against the government was strictly for the breach of fundamental rights of the Filin Idi Shop owners for the demolishing of their properties/shops without due process of law.
"I believe the shop owners must also have a case before the Kano State High Court where they want the court to declare that they are the rightful owners of the properties, because they have followed all the due processes in acquiring the shops, as they have paid the government all necessary fees payable, and had obtained the required government's permissions or consents for the assignment of the properties into their respective names," Mr Aliyu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said.
Government settles out of court
While the number of court cases against the government by those whose properties were demolished continue to rise, the government seems to have realised the error in its action, as it has now agreed to an out-of-court settlement with one group of claimants. The agreement came after the Federal High Court in Kano awarded the claimants, the owners of Masallacin Eid Shop, a N30 billion compensation for the illegal demolition of the property.
On 14 December, the state government was compelled to reached a N3 billion settlement with the group after the court ordered the freezing of 24 bank accounts of the government for refusing to comply with its order to compensate the traders.
Demolition: Lawyers threaten to sue Sanwo-Olu over '5,000 displaced families'
While the owners of the property have been compensated for the demolition, tenants, whose goods were looted from the property during the demolition exercise, have been left to bear the cost of their losses alone.
Ibrahim Muktar, who owns a shop at the Eid Ground property, said he lost goods valued at millions of naira to looters. He said the government gave traders only three days to vacate after their goods had been looted.
"The government just came without prior notice until after three days of the demolition, they came and put the red paint (notification) after we had lost almost all our valuables to looters.
"My neighbour, who was selling curtains and carpets, also lost everything to looters. He lost over N100 million in investment," said Mr Muktar.
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"The government said they are going to help the youth; these shops were being managed by youths. Most of us here are renting, but the government came and destroyed everything, both the building and the investment inside.
"If the government truly wants to help the youth, let them come here and assist us. Now we are left without shops in the market," Mr Muktar said.
Another trader who had a women's dresses shop in the complex, Abubakar Umar, said being a small-scale trader, he did not think the demolition exercise would affect him. He said he thought only stores within the Eid Ground would be demolished, until his shop was demolished and looted.
"We just woke up and saw hoodlums everywhere looting our shops, including the doors of the shops. This is the most terrible thing have I ever witnessed in my life.
"All my life I have been advocating that youths be self-employed, yet today, the government's action has taken away jobs.
"In the shops in my vicinity, we lost up to N50 million worth of investment in this demolition," Mr Umar said.
Isyaku Ibrahim, a trader dealing in women's innerwear, recalled how he received distress calls from the market to protect his shop against looters.
"Nobody gave us notice, we would have evacuated our belongings. The government and the security agencies left us at the mercy of hoodlums who came well-armed to steal our belongings. Nobody was willing to help as the security agents and people watched from behind as we fought with the hooligans.
"The government did not provide enough security at the demolition site. The police only arrived at the scene in the morning after the damage had been done. I have lost my business and I don't know where to start again now," Mr Ibrahim said.
