…Says action irresponsible
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
A Chieftain of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Sanusi Balarabe, has kicked against ongoing demolition of personal and public infrastructures in Kano State by governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.
Balarabe, who is a member of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, in a viral video on YouTube, said the action of the present administration was not what he voted for and described it as irresponsible.
He explained that most people voted for the NNPP because of the antecedents of the former governor of the state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
According to him, all the shops demolished belong to Kano traders and not by foreigners from Niger Republic, adding that action would plunge most traders into debt.
He added that the shops would have been put to better use if they were taken over by government and reallocated to the less privileged at reasonably affordable rates rather than to destroy them.
“In all honesty, none of us voted the government knowing it will carry out these demolitions. It is wastage to demolish properties indiscriminately and therefore outright unreasonable and condemnable,” Alhaji Balarabe, leader of the Mu Hadu Mu Gyara group said in the video.
“Even if they were owned by Nigeriens, at least they are human beings with entitlements, they improve the revenue base of the state by paying taxes to government which makes it a huge wastage to demolish ordinarily productive assets.
“If for instance each owner of a demolished shop were to pay just one thousand naira in taxation to government, it would sum up to a huge sum which could be useful to the state.
“If for instance, a small scale trader who cannot afford N1million rent for a shop at Kasuwan Kwari were to be allocated a plot in these targeted locations for like N100 thousand, it would be far better than demolition them which is nothing but waste,” he said.
Reacting to government claims that the structures being demolished were illegally erected, Balarabe said even at that, due process must have to be diligently followed by first setting up a commission of inquiry and other processes.
“It is a gross mistake and blatant abuse of power for government to embark on such destruction without recourse to legal processes and it will be setting the wrong example to use a wrong to correct another wrong.
“At my level, I will advise the governor to suspend the demolitions, concentrate on the major assignment we voted him for.
He should improve infrastructure, get job opportunities for the people, and remind him that a lot of otherwise productive individuals are being sent out of jobs by this action which is clearly vindictive.
“He should not allow personal political sentiment to overshadow his sense of responsibility,” he said.