Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
On Sunday, police dispersed traders who had flocked to the streets to celebrate a court ruling ordering Governor Nasir El-Rufai to pay compensation for demolishing their shops and market in the city.
On Sunday evening, armed police stormed the Kasuwan Barci and Tudun Wada areas of Kaduna metropolis, firing tear gas and live bullets into the air as shop owners took to the streets, demanding that Governor El-rufai obey a court order and compensate them for their demolished shops and markets.
The celebrations followed a Kaduna State High Court order directing the state government to re-enter each of the shop owners in Kasuwan Barci into the market.
The shop owners who were affected urged the government to respect the rule of law by obeying the court order. However, just as the traders were about to launch a peaceful protest, armed policemen stormed the venue and told them that “an order from above has been issued to stop the protest.”
As a result, some police officers and men on the scene of the protest immediately stopped the leaders from addressing their members and newsmen.
The police were also seen removing all of the canopies that had been set up for the event along the Kasuwan Barci axis of Dutsima road in Tudun Wada.
This led to a serious clash with the sister security agency, the Kaduna State Vigilante Service (KADVIS), which had previously provided security and cover to the traders at the venue.
To demonstrate their superiority, the armed cops used tear gas on the crowd and fired live bullets into the air to disperse them. However, a few hours later, the shop owners reconvened at another location and addressed the news media.
Remember that on September 28, 2022, the court issued a judgment in favor of the plaintiffs (shop owners) and ordered the Kaduna State government to adequately compensate them.
The state government had taken over the market and would demolish the old structure sometime in March 2020, affecting approximately 4,600 shop owners. The demolition also affected all of the state’s market locations.
Dissatisfied with the state government’s actions, traders from Kaduna’s Kasuwan Barci and Raga markets petitioned the court to interpret the state government’s powers over the markets.
In his opinion. Justice Edward Andow ruled that the Kaduna State government lacked the constitutional authority to take over the Kasuwan Barci market in the manner that it did. The government was ordered to pay compensation.
In celebration of the court order, shop owners flooded Kaduna State’s streets over the weekend, urging the government not to deny them their right as proclaimed by the court.
Addressing reporters, Alhaji Abdullahi Maikano Kaya-kaya, Chairman of the Shop Owners, explained that after receiving the vacation notice, the shop owners sought an audience with the state Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, which was granted, but they were unable to reach an agreement.
He explained that the shop owners pleaded with the Governor to either allow them to build the shops themselves using the authorized government building plan or to provide them with another space to relocate while the government rebuilt the shops because the Governor promised to return the shops to the real owners.
“Our expectations were that, since government is aware that we built our shops ourselves on government land, they should have either relocated the market or adequately compensated us, but instead, they ignored us and proceeded to demolish the shops,” he said.
“We pray that the Kaduna State Government will honor this judgment by reinstating us back into the market and compensating us appropriately, because many shop owners have died, some are sick, and a few have relocated to other towns as a result of the demolition.”
