NBA, communities protest illegal demolitions, flay military disobedience of court orders
…Military cites security threat, defends action
From Abdullahi Alhassan, Kaduna
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Kaduna Branch, on Tuesday led residents of six communities in Igabi Local Government Area in a peaceful protest against alleged illegal demolitions, human rights violations, and brazen disobedience of subsisting court orders by the Commander of the Infantry Corps Centre (ICC), Jaji, Major General Usman Abdulmumin Yusuf.
The affected communities; Mallam Auta, Ungwan Yohanna, Ungwan Aboki, Sabon Ungwan Loya, Ungwan Railway, and Ungwan Alhassan marched with NBA members to the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna, where they lodged their grievances.
The protesters carried placards with different inscriptions, calling for rule of law to prevail and chanting that, military authorities are not above the civil laws.
NBA Kaduna Chairman, Baba Lawal Aliyu, told reporters that the association was disturbed by demolitions of ancestral homes and farmlands, arbitrary arrests without warrants, and forced evictions in Igabi, despite binding court injunctions.
He lamented that on August 15, Ungwan Aboki was demolished under military guard in the dead of night, leaving hundreds of families, women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, homeless and destitute. He added that Hayin Mallam Auta had been marked for imminent demolition despite court orders prohibiting such actions.
According to Aliyu,“The High Court of Kaduna State had, in multiple rulings between 2018 and 2021, ordered all parties to maintain the status quo. The commander’s deliberate disobedience of these injunctions is contempt of court and a dangerous affront to our constitutional democracy.”
Citing the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Military Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu (1986), he reminded the authorities that no government agency, military or civilian, is above the law, describing the actions in Igabi as a direct assault on the judiciary.
The protesters demanded an immediate halt to planned demolitions, particularly in Hayin Mallam Auta, and called for the release of persons allegedly arrested and detained without warrants during the exercises.
They urged the Federal and Kaduna State Governments, civil society groups, and the international community to urgently intervene, warning that continued defiance of judicial authority would not be tolerated.
Aliyu, however, assured the communities that the NBA Kaduna Branch would continue to defend their rights, declaring: Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum, let justice be done though the heavens fall.
But reacting earlier, ICC Commander, Major General Yusuf, defended the military’s position, saying illegal communities within Jaji Cantonment posed serious threats to national security and hampered training activities.
He said the Army was engaging the Kaduna State Government on relocating affected settlements, insisting no lawful houses were demolished.
