Hundreds of protesters blocked a major highway in Madobi’s Local Government Area of Kano State to protest the ongoing demolitions of properties and seizure of farmlands belonging to the Burji community by the Madobi Local Government authorities.
Daily Episode gathered that the protest began after the local government officials with their team of contractors stormed the villages while setting to demolish a house belonging to a nursing mother and many others.
The protesters, many of whom are elderly men and women, with significant numbers of youths and underage children, allege the local government chairman, Muhammad Lawal Yahaya, and the district head, Sale Musa, of unjustly selling their properties without their consent or compensation.
It will be recalled that a high court sitting in Kano state has barred the Madobi local government chairman, Muhammad Lawal Yahaya, and others from forcefully taking over farmland belonging to farmers in the Kafin-Agur community after a Kano-based lawyer and rights activist, Bar Abba Hikima, engaged the authorities with a lawsuit in defense of the farmers.
While interviewing some of the protesters, Malam Musa lamented that the local government authorities have taken steps to expose us to abject poverty and suffering by forcefully seizing and selling our farms and houses, which will only result in making us jobless and homeless.
We are farming to harvest what we can sustain our lives without relying on government assistance, but now we are trapped and may lose our long-term heritage, and no one is willing to rescue us from the local government authorities. He added
In an interview with BBC News Hausa, the Madobi Local Government chairman assured the public of compensating the aggrieved villagers, adding that they have documented the number of farms and people affected and compensation will start on Monday morning.
But Mukaila Maria and many others denied receiving the documents or any form proving the local governments’ claim on the compensation, as none of them were either consulted or contacted before their farmlands were illegally excavated by the authorities.
Daily Episode gathered that no fewer than five people were arrested by the security operatives after disrupting the protest to allow motorists access to the highway.
The Kano Police public relations officer has denied knowledge of the arrest while assuring our correspondence with details upon receiving.
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