A Kaduna state high court has declared that the state government has no constitutional powers to take over markets.
Deliverung judgment in a suit filed by some aggrieved traders at the Kasuwan Barchi market, Kaduna South Local Government Area of the state, whose shops were demolished by the state government, the court presided by Justice Edward Andoo, ordered the state government to “appropriately compensate” the traders and reinstate them.
The traders had challenged the state government for taking over the market and demolishing their shops sometimes in 2017.
The market was said to have been handed over to private developers to construct a modern market.
The judge said, constitutionally, markets are under the jurisdiction of Local Governments, adding that section 7 of the 1999 Constitution and other provisions empowers the control and management of markets to Local Governments.
The court also granted all the prayers by the traders.
Speaking in a telephone interview after the judgment which was delivered on Tuesday, one of the counsels to the traders, Gideon Solomon, said, “Sometimes in 2017, without any prior notice, the Kaduna state government gave the traders three days notice to vacate the market.
“What the government did was to award a contract to private developers to build a modern market in the place.
“We sought for an injunction to restrained the government from demolishing the market, but while the motion was still pending, the government went ahead and demolished the market and commenced construction.”
Solomon said the traders prayed the court for a declaration that, constitutionally, markets are under the jurisdiction of Local Governments, adding that “the constitution mandated the Local Governments to be the ones to administer anything that has to do with markets.”
He said, “What we sought for before the court is the fact that by the provisions of section 7 of the 1999 Constitution and other provisions, the state government has no powers to take over the responsibilities of Local Governments in managing markets.
“We prayed the court for a declaration that the Kaduna state government lacks powers to do what they did.
“We prayed the court to nullify the action of the state government. We also prayed the court to order the Kaduna state government to adequately compensate the traders.
“We prayed the court to reinstate the traders to their various shops – all of them should be given their various shops.
“The court gave judgment in our favour and granted all the prayers we sought. The court said the traders should be compensated adequately.”
Solomon said, the Kasuwan Barchi market is supposed to be under Kaduna South LGA.
According to him, some of the traders whose shops were demolished, had been in the market for between 30 to 40 years.
“They rented the place from the Local Government and used their resources to construct their shops.
“Every year they pay ground rent to the government, acknowledging the fact that the legal title belong to the Local Government,” the lawyer said.
A counsel to the state government, Sanusi Usman, however declined to comment on the judgment, saying he is a civil servant.
“I have a predicament, I have a challange, I am a civil servant, you have to talk to the honourably attorney general,” he said when contacted on telephone.
It was however gathered that Usman had earlier declared in the open court that the government will appeal the judgement.
