Residents of the Barhim Sha-is kawa community of Batagarawa Local Government Area of Katsina State have decried the illegal seizure of 73 hectares of land by some personalities who claimed to be agents of the state government.

The community, who vowed never to let their ancestral land be taken away by an identified person, decided to hire the service of Salama Chamber in Katsina and complained.

One of the legal team handling the case, Bar Muhammad Muhammed, told LEADERSHIP that the chamber had already filed a lawsuit at a Magistrate court in Batagarawa local government area to seek redress

He added that several complaint letters were also written to the appropriate authority in the state concerning the land but all to no avail, reemphasizing that forceful confiscation of the 73 hectares of land without following due process permitted by law should be condemned by any peace-loving resident of the state.

“Over 2, 800 beacons belonging to the people have been destroyed in this area, this happened overnight by some people who claimed they were from the State Government and chased people away from the land without following due process permitted by law.

“Section 28: 2 of the Land Use Act says the government has the right to revoke land, but there are processes supposed to be followed. In section 29 of the Land Use Act, the government can revoke land only on these reasons; if petrol or mineral resources are discovered on the land, or public buildings like hospitals and roads are to be built on the state land, or if the federal government wants to use the land to benefit the people.

“But to our greatest surprise none of these reasons were brought before the community, all we heard was some people confiscating the land without doing the right thing. No public notice or law of prohibition”, he said

The community therefore called on the government to intervene in the situation to avoid imminent conflict that may cause the shedding of blood in the area.

Culled from Leadership Newspapers