The old students under the auspices of Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA) and Federal Government College Kaduna Old Students Association FGCKADOSA had last Saturday staged a protest at the College premises, calling on Governor Uba Sani to restore the College’s land annexed by the El-Rufai’s administration.
Journalists were told at the meeting that Governor Sani told the old students that he had not closed his mind to the request by the College stakeholders and quickly added that he has a strong belief that the former Governor decided to annex the College land for security reasons.
The Director General of Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency, Ismail Umar-Dikko, who was invited to address the meeting, explained that the land was excised due to the ravaging insecurity and kidnapping of school children in North Western region, the fact that the portion of the land remained undeveloped for over 50 years and because it is close to River Kaduna, making the school open to easy attack by bandits.
The Governor however said that, as a Senator, he knows that, the 1976 Land Use Act puts all lands in a state under the control of the State Governor.
He said, “The Governor has the power to allocate and reallocate land, especially if it borders on public interest. So, I believe the former Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai decided to annex the land because of security challenges, which have been compounded by ungoverned spaces.
“The former government in its wisdom felt it did not have to wait for insecurity to happen around the FGC before taking action, because the portion of the land annexed borders River Kaduna and Keke Community of New Millennium City, where series of kidnap cases have been reported.”
The governor, however, promised to visit the school in the company of the old students to see things for himself while saying that the matter be resolved through dialogue rather than a legal battle, which he said may create more bottlenecks than solutions to the matter at hand.
The governor also assured the old students that all work at the site would be halted until he personally pay a visit to the school to assess the situation, after which dialogue between the Government and the College’s stakeholders will continue.
Earlier, the President General of Unity Schools Old Students Association, Michael Magaji, who led the delegation to Government House, thanked the Gov. for the invitation and expressed USOSA’s displeasure over what he called the encroachment of FGC Malali, Kaduna’s land.
Magaji requested that the Governor carried USOSA’s executives along when he embarks on the visit to the school.
