A Zamfara-based businessman, Isha’u Mai Yari, has accused the Zamfara State Urban and Rural Planning Board (ZURPB) of illegally demolishing his business mall in Gusau without judicial authorisation.

Speaking through his counsel, Barrister Bello Umar, at the Zamfara State Rents and Houses Tribunal, Mai Yari alleged that the Board carried out the demolition before seeking the Tribunal’s approval.

Addressing journalists after the hearing, Umar said the action of ZURPB was unconstitutional, stressing that no government agency has the right to demolish private property without a court order.

“ZURPB is an agency of the state government, but it has no constitutional authority to demolish property without the consent of the judiciary,” he said. “In the process of the demolition, my client lost goods worth millions of naira.”

He lamented that rather than face legal action for the demolition, ZURPB went ahead to sue his client before the Tribunal. “We are the ones who should have taken them to court, not the other way around,” he said.

Umar disclosed that both the defence and the Board’s legal teams had closed their cases after presenting witnesses, and the Tribunal has fixed October 22, 2025, for judgment.

He added that if the ruling does not favour his client, they would appeal, citing constitutional provisions that guarantee such recourse.

It would be recalled that Mai Yari had earlier dragged ZURPB before a Magistrate Court in Gusau last year after the Board first demolished the structure.

ZURPB had told the court that the mall was constructed too close to a major road, in violation of its planning regulations.

Despite that case, the Board reportedly went ahead to demolish the mall again before initiating fresh proceedings at the Tribunal.