A Kaduna state High Court has ordered Kaduna state government to fully compensate the 4,600 shop owners who were displaced from their shops at Kasuwar Barci market following the demolition and rebuilding of the shops.
The Kaduna state government had taken over the market and demolished the old structure of the market in March, 2020 with about 4,600 shop owners affected.
The shop owners at Kasuwar Barci and Raga markets took legal recourse to the court to interpret the extent of the powers of the state government over the markets, after meetings between them and government failed to yield required agreement by the two parties.
The presiding judge, Justice A. Edward Andow, in his judgement, pronounced that the Kaduna state government lacks the constitutional powers to unilaterally takeover the Kasuwar Barci market in the way and manner it did, while ordering the Kaduna state government that shop owners be adequately compensated.
“The Kaduna state government is in breach of the constitutional provision vesting the creation and operation of markets in the local govts by usurping and arrogating to itself the clear powers and function of the local government,” the court ruling said.
The shop owners flooded the street of Tudun Wada, Kaduna South local government area of Kaduna state last weekend celebrating the court judgment, while urging the government not to deny them their right as pronounced by the court.
The chairman, Kasuwar Barci Shop Owners, Alhaji Abdullahi Maikano Kaya-kaya, stated that after they received notice to vacate their shops, the shop owners sought audience with Governor Nasir el-Rufai which was granted.
He said they pleaded with the governor to either allow them build the shops themselves by using the authorised government building plan or give them another space to relocate, pending when government would rebuild the shops since the governor promised returning the shops to the real owners, but they could not reach any agreement.
