The Secretary to the Kano State Government, Baffa Bichi, has given more reasons behind the demolition of the government house roundabout monument by the administration of Governor Abba Kabir-Yusuf.
The demolition of the roundabout, built by the Abdulahi Ganduje administration to commemorate Kano’s Golden Jubilee, had sparked condemnations across the state on Wednesday.
Reacting to the criticism, the governor, through his Chief Press Secretary, Sanusi Dawakin Tofa, had said the structure was substandard and may collapse in one year.
According to Daily Nigerian, while the SSG was speaking on Freedom Radio Kano on Wednesday, he said the roundabout also carried a large Christian cross, which, according to him, is against the doctrine of Islam.
Mr Bichi added that the structure was also obstructing the view of drivers accessing all routes linked through it.
“The roundabout is obstructing the view of motorists, and secondly, if you use a drone camera, you will see that the roundabout has large design of a cross on top of it.
“And over 99.9 or 100 percent of Kano indigenes are Muslims. So you can’t have a structure with a large inscription of the cross on it. It’s against Islamic values.
“Our clerics told us that whenever our beloved Prophet Muhammad saw anything, no matter how little, with a sign of cross on it, he would ensure that such a thing is destroyed.
“So any picture of Kano you snap, you would see a large sign of the cross on it, even the Muhammadu Buhari underpass in Hotoro has a similar design, and I can assure you that plans are underway to make sure those symbols are removed from the bridge.”
Speaking further on the ongoing demolitions across different parts of the state, Mr Bichi said the structures were illegally acquired by officials of the previous administration.
He maintained that the government would only pay compensation to people with genuine documents of proof of ownership.
“Anyone who is defending the encroachment of public institutions like hospitals, schools and Eid grounds is sick and needs medical attention.
“If you encroached on government land and the government collected it back, there is no way you could claim any compensation.
“All these structures we are demolishing were illegally acquired and shared among officials of the outgone administration.
“So, anyone demanding compensation should go and meet the person that sold the properties to them, because the monies were never remitted into the government account.
“If government collects your property to build infrastructure for the masses, it is obligatory that such individuals would be compensated but that’s not the case here,” Mr Bichi stressed.
The SSG also disclosed that the administration would equally recover government assets and property sold outside in the state.
*(Courtesy: Daily Nigerian)
