A construction firm, All Pro Developers Limited, has sued the Sokoto State Commissioner of Police and nine other officers for the alleged illegal occupation of quarters in the Sokoto metropolis.
Newsmen reports that the case was filed before the Sokoto State Tribunal, asking the court to order the occupants to vacate the premises.
According to the document filed in court, the Plaintiff, through its Counsel, Mr Erabor Ogiza, said the firm was duly assigned by the Sokoto State Government to develop the premises located on Kontagora Road.
The Defendants are Commissioner of Police, Abdulrazak Gulma, Umar Bala-Bungudu, Nasir Lawal, Abubakar Musa, Abdullahi Mukhtar, Ibrahim Bawa, Sani Chika, Murtala Aliyu and Usman Sani-Wamakko.
The Plaintiff averred that the Defendants were occupying the premises illegally as there was no allocation letter, tenancy agreement, legal rights of ownership or other correspondence to legalise their occupation.
During the trial, the Plaintiff’s Counsel, Ogiza, said all the Defendants were duly served. However, the Commissioner of Police was neither present in court nor represented by counsel.
Ogiza also told the Tribunal that he had just been served with a counter-affidavit and a preliminary objection filed by the Defendants, and urged the court to grant him an adjournment in order to respond appropriately.
The Lead Defense Counsel, Mr Nasiru Shehu-Na’ige, did not oppose the application for adjournment, noting that they were fully ready to proceed with the trial.
After all presentations, the Tribunal Judge, Mr. Jafar Aliyu-Dangere, adjourned the case to Sept. 22 for continued hearing.
It was recalls that families of police officers residing in the quarters on Sept. 6 staged a protest, appealing to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Rilwan Tunde Disu, and other authorities to intervene.
The protesters, comprising wives and children of police officers, displayed placards, recalling that some of their husbands died in active service, while others who are still in service do not deserve to be treated in that manner.
They narrated that most of them have resided in the quarters for more than two decades and that they suddenly saw a bulldozer, accompanied by Civil Defence personnel, demolishing their perimeter fence and heading to the main buildings.
The occupants described the action as the unauthorised demolition of their houses, allegedly by the state government arguing that the houses belong to federal government and demanded to be first considered as obtained in monnotisation policy.
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