Government of Kano has approved compensation of N3bn for owners of demolished shops

The Masallacin Eid Shop Owners and Traders Association’s Incorporated Trustees agreed to receive N3 billion in compensation from the Kano State government on Thursday for the illegal demolition of their property.

The agreement was achieved through a settlement application that was dated December 12 and submitted by the parties’ attorney on December 13 to Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja.

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According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), 56 applicants filed a lawsuit in Kano division under the case number FHC/KN/CS/208/2023 on behalf of the association after the stores were demolished per Governor Abba Yusuf’s directive.

The Kano State Attorney-General (A-G), Nigeria Police, Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 1, Kano Commissioner of Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corpse (NSCDC) Commandant, and NSCDC, Kano State Command were among the state government entities sued by the applicants.

In a ruling on September 29, Justice Samuel Amobeda mandated that the state government compensate the traders N30 billion for the unlawful demolition of their property, in contrast to their claim of N250 billion.

However, the traders filed an ex-parte motion with the court identifying it as FHC/ABJ/CS/1382/2023 against Justice Ekwo after the state government refused to abide by the Kano court order. In this motion, they requested an order for a garnishee order nisi, attaching all current and future funds of KSG, KNUPDA, and the state’s A-G, including but not limited to the Kano State Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) Account.

In addition, they submitted other accounts held by the respective garnishees totaling N30 billion in compliance of the Sept. 29 decision, along with the UBA account number 1019716320, the Polaris account number 17902494410, and other accounts. On Nov. 28, Justice Ekwo allowed the application.

The CBN, Account-General of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Finance, FAAC, UBA, Zenith Bank, Unity Bank, and Polaris Bank are a few of the garnishees that have joined the lawsuit.

However, during the hearing that was resumed on Thursday, Dr. N. A. Ayagi, the traders’ attorney, who read the garnishee procedure that was started against the judgement debtors (the state government and others) and the garnishees, told the court that the parties had come to an understanding.

We are happy to notify the court that a settlement has been reached between the judgement debtors and judgement creditors.

He declared, “In light of this, we have filed our terms of settlement.”

After that, Ayagi accepted the settlement’s terms and asked the court to enter a consent ruling.

Additionally, Affis Matanmi, the judgement debtors’ attorney, did not object to the application, and as a result, Justice Ekwo handed the judgement in accordance with the parties’ consent.