By Aminu Garko
The Kano State Government says the garnishing order freezing its accounts obtained by some victims of its demolitions from an Abuja High Court is fraudulent.
The government also assured on Wednesday in Kano that it was still operating its various accounts to administer the state.
This is according to the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Haruna Isa-Dederi.
Isa-Dederi confirmed to newsmen that there was no way Court of same jurisdictions could even sit on a case it has decided on and which was since appealed against.
He said it was on notice that the Kano state government had filed an appeal against the N30 billion punitive and compensation judgment handed down by Justice Simon Amobeda of the Federal High Court in Kano.
The judgment was in favour of the Incorporated Trustees of Masallacin Eid Shop Owners and Traders on behalf of the victims.
Isa-Dederi therefore wondered how can same Court of the same jurisdiction would give a judgment in Kano.
According to him, the judgment ”was even done out of jurisdiction of the court”, which was also appealed against, querying how a similar court could issue another order on the same matter.
Isa-Dederi explained that the Kano state government had filed an Appeal because the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, saying it revolved around ownership of the property in the first place and all records of proceeding were transmitted to the Appeal Court.
The state chief law officer said even before the appeal, the government had filed a motion seeking a stay of execution pending the appeal, asking ”so how can same court even sit on same case”.
Besides, he confirmed that the record of the Federal High Court proceedings had already been transmitted to the Court of Appeal.
The attorney general also disclosed that the Court of Appeal had already scheduled the hearing of the motion on stay of execution for Dec. 4.
He stressed that it would be futile for the Federal High Court to make any orders on the issue, as the case is pending before the Appeal Court and it would be akin to a court sitting in appeal on its own judgment.
Isa-Dederi reiterated that the Kano state government’s actions were supported by the provisions of the Land Use Act, which empowered the government to grant and revoke land allocations.
He emphasised that the demolition of the properties was executed in overriding public interest.
NAN
