Kano State High Court No. 4, presided over by Justice Usman Malam Naabba, has set April 7, 2025, for a ruling on a motion brought before it by owners of Kuyan Ta Inna lands in Kumbotso Local Government Area in Kano State.
Lawyer to the applicants, Barrister Umar Usman Dan Baito, stated this while addressing newsmen at the court’s premises.
Barrister Dan Baito said the applicants have sued the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, the Ministry of Transport, and the Nigerian Army for the alleged forceful takeover of their landed property without following due process to construct a railway.
He said the applicants are 76 in number. He said the Defendants want to take over the lands without following due process because there are sections that give freehand to every Nigerian to own movable and immovable property, and the law states no one can forcefully take over without due process.
Among which is to sit down with the owner or pay him adequate compensation.
He said counsel to the Nigerian Army has appeared because the applicants alleged that the Nigerian Army is being used to coerce the applicants to surrender their properties.
He said before the court gave an interim order regarding the issue and now has set a date for ruling.
Dan Baito said he is expecting the court to rule justly.
He said one cannot forcefully take over one’s land without recourse to justice, and they are expecting justice from the court.
On his part, the lawyer representing the Nigerian Army, Godwin Akwopfueze, who is the sixth respondent, said they looked for a favorable ruling, noting that they are not involved in the matter, saying the applicants have never been invited to the barracks.
On his part, the chairman of the association of landowners, Isa Jibrin Isa Kaci Kasa, said there is no justice in inviting applicants to a barrack through means of intimidation whereby they pay a meager amount of 600 thousand Naira for a landed property that costs over 3 million.
He urged Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and Emir Muhammad Sanusi II to intervene in the matter because the federal government is trying forcefully to take over the lands without the knowledge of the state government.
He said a number of orphans own the lands, and they are about to be forcefully taken from them. That is why they have come to seek justice in the court.
