• We still operate our accounts, says govt
Kano State government has agreed to pay N3bn as compensation to the Incorporated Trustees of Masallacin Eid Shop Owners and Traders Association for the unlawful demolition of their property, The Nation learned on Thursday.
The agreement was reached through an application on terms of settlement dated December 12 and filed on December 13 by counsel for the parties before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Law analysts said it was a smart move by the government, to have settled for N3 billion, rather than risking the payment of N30 billion by going on an appeal which may fail.
But the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Haruna Isa Dederi, on Thursday told The Nation that he was not aware of any agreement by the state government to pay victims of the demolition N3 billion as damages.
He said what he knew was that the Kano state government had appealed against the judgment ordering them to pay N30 billion damages to the trader’ association, promising to make enquiries and get back to the newspaper.
Some 56 applicants, on behalf of the association, had filed the suit marked FHC/KN/CS/208/2023 in the Kano division of the court, following the demolition of their shops on the instruction of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.
The litigants had sued the state government, the Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority; the state Attorney General, the police; the Assistant Inspector-General of Police Zone 1, Kano; the Kano State Commissioner of Police; Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Commandant; and NSCDC, Kano State Command.
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The government has also said the Garnishing Order Obtained by the Victims of Filin Masalaci from Abuja Court was fraudulent, as the state still operates its accounts.
Recently, the Federal High Court in Abuja was reported to have granted a garnishee order freezing 24 bank accounts belonging to the Kano State government.
It was gathered the order was granted in response to a suit filed by the Incorporated Trustees of Masalachi Eid Shop Owners and Traders Association for the demolition of their shops by the state government.
But the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Haruna Isa Dederi, said there was no way a Court of the same jurisdiction could even sit on a case it has decided on and which was since appealed against.
He said it was on notice, that the Kano State Government had filed an appeal against the N30 Billion “punitive and compensation judgment” handed down by Justice Simon Amobeda of the Federal High Court in Kano.
He noted that “the demolition of the properties was carried out in the overriding public interest,” even as the judgment was delivered in favour of the Incorporated Trustees of Masallacin Eid Shop Owners and Traders.
Dederi said he wonders how the same Court of the same jurisdiction would give a Judgement in Kano, “a judgement that was even done out of the jurisdiction of the Court”, and which was also appealed against, and another similar Court could issue another order on the same matter.
“We filed an Appeal because the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, as it revolved around ownership of the property, and all records of proceedings were transmitted to the Appeal Court.
”Even before the appeal, the government had filed a motion seeking a stay of execution pending appeal. So how can the same court even sit on the same case?” he said.
The Justice Commissioner confirmed that the record of the Federal High Court proceedings had already been transmitted to the Court of Appeal.
He also said that the Court of Appeal had scheduled the hearing of the motion for a stay of execution in December.
“It would be futile for the Federal High Court to make any orders on the issue, as the case is pending before the appeal court and it would be akin to a court sitting in appeal on its judgment.”
