By Abdullahi Yusuf
Alhaji Musa Iliyasu Kwankwaso, a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has asked the Kano State Government to pay compensation for the four protesters killed during the demolition of some buildings at Rimin Zakara in the state.
A combined team of security operatives allegedly opened fire, killing four persons and injuring several others during the demolition of the buildings illegally erected on some lands belonging to the Bayero University, Kano (BUK),last Sunday.
The State Government had through the Commissioner of Information and Internal Affairs, Comrade Ibrahim Wayya, responded to the killings, saying a committee would be set up to investigate the matter.
Kwankwaso said: “Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf should also personally alongside his Land and Works Commissioners pay a condolence visit to the families of the people who lost their lives during the chaos.
“Again, government should immediately begin the process of settling the matter in a more mature manner by engaging the owners of the lands and also allocating other lands for them as well as paying compensation for the lives lost.
“The defence put forward by the State Government that they are not part of the demolishing exercise is baseless because so many local Radio stations have reported that officials of the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning were seen operating alongside security personnel during the demolishing exercise.
“I concur with the Amnesty International that Kano state government must halt attacks on poor communities who are being punished for the state’s decades of urban planning failures.
“That the chaotic scenes and threats by the security forces to set fire to people’s homes has caused fear and panic. Using lethal force to render people who are already destitute and homeless is a form of crude cruelty. State violence against the poor must end.”