NBA, communities protest illegal demolitions, flay military disobedience to court orders
Six communities in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State staged a peaceful protest on Tuesday, against alleged illegal demolitions of their homes and other structures, human rights violations, and brazen disobedience to subsisting court orders by the Commander of the Infantry Corps Centre, ICC, Jaji, Major General Usman Abdulmumin Yusuf.
The affected communities whose residents were led by members of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Kaduna State chapter are Mallam Auta, Ungwan Yohanna, Ungwan Aboki, Sabon Ungwan Loya, Ungwan Railway, and Ungwan Alhassan marched 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 the rule of law to prevail, insisting military authorities are not above the civil laws but should obey the law of the land.
NBA Kaduna Chairman, Baba Lawal Aliyu, told newsmen that the association was disturbed by demolitions of ancestral homes and farmlands, arbitrary arrests without warrants, and forced evictions of residents in Igabi, despite binding court injunctions.
According to him, on August 15, Ungwan Aboki was demolished under military guard late night, leaving hundreds of families, women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, homeless and destitute, adding 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.
He lamented, “The commander’s deliberate disobedience of these injunctions is contempt of court and a dangerous affront to our constitutional democracy.”
He cited the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Military Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu (1986) and reminded the authorities that no government agency, military or civilian, is above the law, saying that 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, calling 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 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.
ICC Commander, Major General Yusuf, while reacting to the protest, defended the military’s position, saying illegal communities within Jaji Cantonment posed serious threats to national security and hampered training activities.
Yusuf explained that the Army was engaging the Kaduna State Government on relocating affected settlements, insisting no lawful houses were demolished.
