Kaduna govt. set to demolish my house, Hunkuyi cries out

Senator representing Kaduna North senatorial zone, Senator Suleiman Uthman Hunkuyi has cried out over what he described as an attempt by the Kaduna State Government to demolish his house located at No.18a Inuwa Wada Road, Ungwan Rimi, Kaduna.

The Kaduna Geographical Information Service (KADGIS) in February sent a bill to his personal residence informing the senator of a 24-year-accumulated ground rent since 1995 which stands at over N1.4 million and slammed him with a fine of N30 million in addition.

This was a few days after his property on 11b Sambo Road, Kaduna, which was used as the secretariat of a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state was demolished on grounds that the ground rent on it has not been paid since 2010.

Hunkuyi had on receiving the bill in February, gone to court to stop the Kaduna State government from taking any action in regards to the property and had secured an interim injunction on the 6th of March, restraining the state government and its agencies from taking any step in respect of the payment of the ground rent for the property pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed which was slated for hearing on the 12th March, 2018.

The Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service, KADIRS, has however sent a reminder notice on the payment of ground rent on the property to the senator saying the state government is yet to receive the payment totaling N31.467, 861 million.

KADIRS in the letter dated 28-05-2018 and signed by its executive director, revenue operations , Ango Liman, said the amount for payment is late and as such penalties and interest would be computed as stipulated by law.

Part of the letter reads “You are by this reminder requested to pay the amount due into our Internally Generated Revenue account with any of the collecting banks, within seven (7) days from the date of the receipt of this reminder notice to avoid statutory sanctions”.

Hunkuyi, in a tweet said the Kaduna State Government “is set to demolish my personal house despite a valid and subsisting court order.”

He said the matter “is still pending in the High Court of Justice Kaduna as I tweet this but the government is bent on carrying on its atrocity.”

Hunkuyi leads one of the factions of the APC in Kaduna State and has vowed to work against the return of Nasir El-Rufai’s as governor in 2019.

Officials of KADIRS could however not be reached for their comments.

Credit: Daily Trust