No Going Back On Demolition Of 3,000 Houses In Gbagyi Villa- Governor El-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai  has  visited Gbagyi Villa, a 3,000 houses Kaduna community alleged to have encroached into Federal Polytechnic land, saying, no going back on the planned demolition of the community.

The Governor said, the community cannot stop their houses from being demolished.

According to El-Rufai who stormed the community of over three thousand houses in company of top government functionaries, Kaduna Polytechnic management and heavy security said, it was unfortunate that, some people have been deceived into buying government owned land.

He however lamented that some were giving religious and ethnic colorations to the matter, which is purely criminal.

The Governor stated that, government will not allow illegal encroachment on Kaduna Polytechnic land to stand just as he said the people of Gbagyi Villa occupying illegal buildings at Kaduna Federal Polytechnic (KADPOLY) land must produce Certificate of Occupancy and building approval or risk demolition.

El-Rufai told journalists that though, he is aware that the case is in a competent court ,action will  however be taken against criminal trespassers.

He said Kaduna polytechnic was allocated the land 40 years ago for one of the polytechnic campuses but unfortunately nearly 70% of its land has been encroached upon by illegal squatters.

According to the Governor, the present administration cannot condone illegality in the state, warning that in Kaduna nobody can hide behind religion  or his or her ethnic group to break the law and get away with it.

El-Rufai noted that government will go through a process and give everyone opportunity to show that she or he has a title to the land and approval to build: “If you don’t have these two the law will apply and we will take the building down”.

He said, government will investigate  those involved within its system and will be punished accordingly ,adding that the law must prevail.

The Governor said, the encroached land case in court has little to do with breaking of the Law. “when you break the law you can’t go to court and stop action”.