From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Property worth millions of naira was demolished in Kano by the new governor of the state, Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf on Saturday.
The operation personally led by the governor saw heavy bulldozers rolled over a property with 90 shops on Race Course by Filin -Saukuwa in Nassarawa Local Government Area of the metropolis.
Eye witnesses said that the bulldozers went to work at about 2.00 am on Saturday, when many residents were asleep, adding that the Governor was accompanied by the state Commissioner of Police, Muhammad Usaini Gumel, whose officers provided back up for the exercise.
“This is the first of many demolitions that are likely to be executed by the administration” said an insider who reminded Sunday Sun that the Governor was very vocal on his stand on buildings sited on public property.
It could be recalled that as Governor- elect, Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf had issued a series of advisory objecting to the erection of structures on public spaces.
The Governor, on that occasion, had charged individuals, groups and organizations to discontinue on-going constructions within and around the premises of schools,religious and cultural sites, hospitals and graveyards as well along the city walls or on all existing public buildings belonging to the government and people of Kano State, warning that anybody who contravened his advisory was doing so on his or her own peril.
In the meantime, the demolition exercise carried out by the governor had sparked off anxiety and fear in the ancient city. While the proprietors of the demolished property are busy counting their losses, others felt that the demolition would only get at victims who had no hand in the transition blues that is currently rocking the state at the moment between the new administration and the outgone administration of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
