Kano Emirate Council and the non-ending scandal-Bashir Kabir

Grouse between the residents of the Darmanawa quarters and Ado Bayero Royal City Trust Fund, a company alleged to have acquired a land previously owned by the emirate council through purchase started few months ago.

With the residents represented by the Darmanawa Layout Development Association protesting against the ownership of a landed property purportedly sold by the emirate council to the company.  Disagreement is on the verge of escalating into a conflict between the two disputing parties as of recent.

The transfer of ownership of the property by the emirate council in the state to a certain private company or an individual has gone through investigation in the past. it might all have begun when one Concern Friends of Kano Emirate filed a complaint against the emirate council, the act that prompted the investigation.

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Even though the petitioners were not specifically complaining against the selling of properties by the emirate council, but rather mainly allegations bordering on the alleged reckless spending of the emirate funds without dues regard to due process, the selling of the emirate council’s landed properties can be regarded as a spill of the same grueling scandal.

In the Darmanawa case, the Darmanawa Layout Development Association as mentioned earlier made a move to halt the selling of the disputed land. Giving the reason for the resistance as protection of the land that was a donation to the residents by the late Emir Alh. Ado Bayero as an Eid ground.

The association further said that the eid ground is the only one in the whole Tarauni Local Government.

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This movement to stop an authoritative move of privatizing a property is so far a fresher from what is generally happening in the state.

The privatization of the public spaces in the state is not entirely a bizarre phenomenon. Many public spaces have already gone to individual ownership through the state government’s ownership of the ‘non-performing public properties.

Controversies arising from Darmanawa, while might be considered the remnants of the larger emirate council scandal but also indicated the concerns the residents have over the inappropriateness of the action privatizing the public ground by the deposed emir. The intricate nature of the Darmanwa case, without a doubt, calls for taking a closer look.

Of recent, the Kano state Land Bureau validated the transfer of ownership to the private company, but that is when the scandal moved to a whole different level.

Beaconing placed on the land was removed by the residents, categorically emphasizing the resolution to continue resisting any future private use of it. They also challenged the company to produce documents that authenticate its claim other than the ones validated by the Kano State Land Bureau even though there is no document that indicated the gifting of the land prior to the scandal.

Bashir Kabir, a public analyst writes from Kano.