Court awards N8.5b against Kano govt over complex demolition

Justice Sanusi Ma’aji of the Kano High Court on Wednesday ordered the state government to pay N8.5 billion to Lamash Properties Limited, owners of the multi-million naira complex demolished by the state in June 2023.

The court also ordered the defendants—Kano State government, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, and the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice— to pay an additional sum of N10 million for the cost of filing the case.

The plaintiff, through his counsel Nureini Jimoh, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), faulted the Kano State government for the demolition of the property, which he claimed was obtained legally through an agreement with the previous administration of Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.

Insisting that the demolition of the property, sited on the former Daula Hotel, was unwarranted, the plaintiff sought a declaration from the court that the agreement entered into under Ganduje’s administration was valid, subsisting, and enforceable before the counter-decision made by the present administration.

Satisfied with the position of the plaintiff, Justice Ma’aji granted the large sum against the respondents in lieu of the worth of the property. The court ordered that since the buildings, already reduced to ground level, could not be restored, their present monetary value should be paid to the plaintiff.

In a clear objection, the defendants’ counsel, Ibrahim Wangida, held that Justice Ma’aji’s judgment was delivered in default, having ignored the motion earlier filed to set aside the hearing.

According to the defense lawyer, the court was not expected to sit on the matter in the first instance because there was no hearing on its applications, and the defense was not aware of the hearing notice where the court delivered the judgment.

Wangida submitted that the judgment in the matter was given out of deceit or mistakes and therefore lacked diligent prosecution because the defense was not availed of the legal opportunity to present its case.

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He further posited that the defendants have filed a motion before the court to set aside the judgment while requesting a new date to be fixed for hearing the pending motions on the originating summons.

“We filed a preliminary objection on the matter, and a date was given for us to move our motion, but the judge did not sit on the appointed date. Now, when the court fixed another date for a hearing notice, we were not served.

“We were told the hearing notice was served on one Barrister AbdulKarim Maude at No. 63, Lamido Road. The name of the person served is not on the file and is not part of the case. I wonder why a wrong person would be served, and the court, based on such wrongful service, passed a judgment,” Wangida noted.