Kano govt seizes Emir Sanusi’s N250m land, pays monarch N4.5m compensation

The feud between the Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje and
the Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi has worsened as it has emerged that
the state government took possession of the monarch’s land and
demolished the structure on it.

Daily Nigerian reports that the land located at Ibrahim Dabo
Road, was demolished to pave way for the ongoing flyover and bridge
being constructed at the Dangi roundabout area. The monarch was
said to have purchased the 1.2 hectares (over 30 plots) of land in
2010 at over N100million and is currently worth over N200 million
but the government approved N4.5 million as compensation to the
monarch, insisting that payment would be made in accordance with
statutory land rate.

The demolition of the fence and structures on the land was
reported to have been personally supervised by the state
Commissioner of Works, Muaz Magaji, on Friday, 15 November, 2015.
Magaji was accompanied by other officials of his ministry to
Sanusi’s land, where he mounted a Grade D9 bulldozer and demolished
a section of the fence surrounding the land.

Before Mahaji embarked on the demolition, he reportedly asked
the Emir to send a representative to witness the exercise —a
request Sanusi obliged by sending the district head of Garko to
represent him.

According to eyewitnesses, after the commissioner pulled down a
sizeable portion of the monarch’s fence in the presence of his
representative, he then reportedly ordered the waiting group of
armed hoodlums to pillage the facility.

The Chief of Staff of to the emir, Munir Sanusi, declined to
comment on the matter, saying the emir had not given him clearance
to speak on the matter but palace sources reportedly told the
publication that the emir is yet to receive any payment from the
government as compensation for the parcel of land, through which
the road will pass through.

But the commissioner told the publication that the state
government had paid compensation of to the emir. “I can tell you he
got the alert. For eight months, this issue has stalled the
project, and this project is for public interest.

“We were even hoping that the Emir would give us the land free
to continue with the work. But since he did not give it to us, we
decided to engage to services of valuers who valued it according to
the statutory land rate because the government does not engage in
commercial purchase,” he said.

He explained that the state government has also paid
compensation to all other property owners whose structures were
affected by the flyover project.