Some indigenes and residents of Kano State have condemned the demolition of the historic Kano government roundabout by Governor Abba Yusuf.
Governor Yusuf reportedly ordered the demolition in the early hours of Wednesday, and he personally supervised the demolition, which took less than three hours.
The said roundabout, known as the Kano Golden Jubilee Monument, was erected in the year 2017 to commemorate Kano’s attainment of 50 years as a state.
Reacting to the development, former special adviser to former governor Abdullahi Ganduje, Salihu Tanko Yakasai, said the demolition broke his heart.
Yakasai said once the NNPP-led administration loses the trust of the Kano people, there is no gaining it back.
“I woke up to this madness by Abba Rusau; this really breaks my heart. What justifiable reason is there to demolish this monument that has become the symbol of Kano?
“We’ve not seen any plans for a new Kano. We’ve not heard of ways to make Kano greater; all I’ve been doing since assuming office is vindictiveness, some justified, others not so much. Once you lose the goodwill of Kano, there is no gaining it back, even if you turn it to Mecca.
“The argument that the Kano Monument causes traffic is so baseball. There is huge traffic every day around 5 p.m. in different parts of Kano. Instead of solving the traffic situation in Kano, you can’t go about destroying a monument. While you’re at it, please destroy the Kofar Kabuga underpass constructed by Kwankwaso. It also causes traffic. Since we are all mad.
“We were told the Kano Monument causes traffic, we were told it causes accidents, and we were told Ganduje used it to syphon funds. They don’t even know which argument to put forward in defending this madness. All of these can be addressed without demolition of the monument.”
Also reacting to the demolition through his social media handles, the publisher of Daily Nigerian, Jafar Jafar, described the demolition as a “thoughtless decision.”
According to Jafar, the monument was designed by a young female architect to commemorate Kano’s Golden Jubilee.
“We must all condemn this thoughtless decision to demolish this monument, designed by a young female architect to commemorate Kano’s Golden Jubilee.
“I support the ongoing demolishing of private buildings in schools, hospitals, and mosques, but not the wanton destruction of public monuments/buildings, simply because they were built by Ganduje. I do not like the politician in Ganduje, but I like some of his projects as a governor.”
Another commentator, Abdullahi Mohammed, said the historic roundabout “was the brainchild of the sub-committee on the monument, headed by a renowned Kano-born architect, and endorsed and approved by the main committee of 51 prominent Kanawas, chaired by the late Prof. Umar of blessed memory and co-chaired by then deputy governor of Kano state, H.E Prof. Hafiz Abubakar.
“The design of the monument was even picked among ten others presented by young and aspiring architects. If my memory doesn’t fail me, I think it was the one designed by a lady that was selected.
“In their presentation to the main committee back then, the idea behind the design as postulated was that the lower gate signifies the old city-state of Kano, while the bigger gate stands for the ever-growing and expanding modern Kano, as for the trumpet atop of the structure, that embodied the hospitable nature of Kano and Kanawas.
“Now back to the senseless destruction of this beautiful edifice, admired not only by Kanawas, but all lovers of classic architecture, of all the recent acts by the state government, this is the cruellest, ill-conceived, and malicious display of insensitivity and common sense.
“The records are there at the government’s disposal. Allah ya kyauta,” Muhammed said.
Also lamenting the demolition, another Kano resident, Ali Ahmad Geidam, described the edifice as one of the beautiful landmarks in Nigeria he adored so much.
Geidam wrote on his Facebook page: “One of the most beautiful edifices and landmarks I adore in Kano and Nigeria in general. Sadly, it is now no more.”
Earlier, the governor had on Sunday demolished shops built by the fence of Sani Abacha Stadium at Kofar Mata, GSS Kofar Nassarawa facing IBB road and buildings by GGSS Dukawuya, Goron Dutse.
