The Kaduna State chapter of the Christian Association
of Nigeria (CAN) on Thursday raised the alarm over a seven-day quit notice issued to
St. Gregory’s Anglican Church in Sabon Gari, Zaria, by the Kaduna State Urban
Planning Development Agency (KASUPDA).
It was learnt that the quit notice was issued last
Wednesday to facilitate the development of the Sabon Gari market in Zaria.
KASUPDA warned that failure to comply with the
directives will leave the agency with no other option than to forcefully evict
the church at its own expense.
The market in question is said to occupy part of the land
belonging to the church, built about 110 years ago.
A copy of the quit notice addressed to No. 27, Church House,
Sabon Gari Market, Zaria, which was made available to journalists read: “Reference
to the directive given by the state governor on the issue of market development
which compensation has been duly paid.
“However, you are hereby directed to vacate your resident
within seven (7) days from now, failure to comply will leave the agency with no
other option than to evict you at your own expense.”
The zonal head of the agency, who signed the notice on behalf
of the zonal manager, however, did not include his name in the notice.
In a statement issued yesterday in Kaduna, the state Chairman
of CAN, Rev. Joseph Hayab, said the association is alarmed with the quit
notice, if actually is a directive from the governor.
“CAN wishes to draw the attention of the Kaduna State Government
to a quit notice to St. George’s Anglican Church in Sabon Gari, Zaria.
“The seven-day quit notice by the
KASUPDA is purported to be a directive from the state governor. The
notice also claimed that compensation had been duly paid to the church.
“We are alarmed and apprehensive about this, if it is
true that it is a directive from the governor. But we doubt much if the
governor issued the directive,” Hayab said.
He recalled that in February 2016, the state
government made moves to relocate the church to pave way for the expansion of
the market.
The CAN chairman said the state government later
realised that the church has all valid documents and that even some parts of the market are on the church’s land.
Hayab said following the presentation of the
necessary documents by the church, the matter was resolved amicably.
According to him, “We wish to state categorically
that no compensation was paid to the church.
“Where did the KASUPDA officials get this false
information that compensation had been paid? Or are the KASUPDA officials
playing a script or are they being used by some faceless trouble entrepreneurs
to provoke Christians?
“It should be noted that the church which was founded
about 110 years ago, was liberal enough to allow the market in question to
operate in some parts of its land.
“Is it now a crime to be liberal and accommodating?
How could the governor revisit the issue which was resolved amicably in 2016 by
issuing a seven-day quit notice?
“We suspect that this could be the handiwork of
some people who do not mean well for the state.”
He called on
the governor to immediately investigate
the purported quit notice from KASUPDA and take prompt action on the
officers involved.
“This will go a long way in allaying fears among Christians
in the state and the country at large.
“This unfortunate noticed is coming just few weeks
after the alarm about the purported demolition of a mosque in Port Harcourt,
Rivers State, which upon investigations, was later confirmed to be false.
“We, therefore, urged the governor to take a step
to avert that kind of situation in the state,” Hayab said
However, in his reaction, Special Adviser to the
state Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, on Media and Communication, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye,
said he was not aware of the notice.
“I am not aware of the notice you are talking about.
What I know, and it’s a fact in the public domain, is that the Kaduna State
Government is redeveloping and expanding markets, including the Sabon-Gari
market,” Adekeye said.
No comments:
Post a Comment