High court dismisses Rep Baba Zango’s land suit against Adamawa govt

A high court sitting in Yola has dismissed a land suit instituted by the member from Yola North/Yola South/Girei federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Abubakar Baba Zango against the Adamawa State Government.

Famously called Baba Zango, the House of Representatives member took Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, the state Ministry of Land and Survey, the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Land and Survey to court challenging the revocation of a piece of land belonging to him.

The piece of land in contention, lying opposite the Yola International Airport, is a choice property which became a matter of intense political interest in 2023 when the governorship candidate of the APC at the time, Senator Aishatu Ahmed (Binani) rented it, labeled it Muhammadu Buhari Square, and used it to host Buhari when he visited the state for the grand finale of her campaign.

She took that action at the time after accusing the government of Ahmadu Fintiri of not letting her use the government-owned Mahmud Ribadu Square, Yola’s most famous event centre.

Both Binani and Baba Zango were of the main oppositions from the APC.

Not very long after the 2023 governorship election which Binani lost to PDP’s Ahmadu Fintiri, Fintiri’s government confiscated the land and began to build one of the government’s model schools on it, leading to the just dismissed suit.

In the suit, the plainteef told the court that Baba Zango had on the 23th June, 2021, purchased the land in view from the family of late Jika Paris.

He sought for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from interfering either by revoking or reallocating or reassigning the plaintiffs’ right in and over that piece of land covered by statutory certificate of occupancy.

Equally, they sought for an order restraining the defendants herein from continuing building or developing their piece of land or demolishing and/ or erecting new structures or improving on the land.

The defendants on their part filed a counter-affidavit seeking an order declaring that the purported sale or assignment of the title or interest covered by statutory certificate of occupancy by Jika Paris to Baba Zango without the consent of the Governor of Adamawa state or any other person authorised by him is illegal and of no effect whatsoever.

The defendants prayed the court further to declare that the failure of the holder of the statutory certificate of occupancy to pay the requisite annual ground rent is a valid ground for the revocation of the right covered by certificate of occupancy.

Delivering its judgement on the suit, the court, presided over by Justice Kanyson Lawanson, dismissed the suit for lack of merit, saying the facts before it proved that the plaintiffs are not entitled to the reliefs they sought.

Reacting on the judgement, Counsel to the defendants, Abayomi Akamode, said the court had found out that the revocation was in the public interest and without political interest.

In his reaction, however, Counsel to the Plaintiffs, Desmond Adebole, said the verdict is a bad one and they would be appealing against it.