The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Kaduna Branch, on Tuesday led residents of six communities in Igabi Local Government Area in a peaceful protest against alleged illegal demolitions and brazen disobedience of subsisting court orders by the Commander of the Infantry Corps Centre (ICC), Jaji, Major General Usman Abdulmumin Yusuf.
The affected communities—Mallam Auta, Ungwan Yohanna, Ungwan Aboki, Sabon Ungwan Loya, Ungwan Railway, and Ungwan Alhassan—marched with NBA members to the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna, where they registered their grievances.
NBA Kaduna Chairman, Baba Lawal Aliyu, told newsmen that the association was disturbed by the demolition of ancestral homes and farmlands, arbitrary arrests without warrants, and forced evictions in Igabi, despite binding court injunctions.
He lamented that on August 15, Ungwan Aboki was demolished under military guard in the dead of night, leaving hundreds of families,women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities homeless and destitute.
He noted that Hayin Mallam Auta had also been marked for imminent demolition despite court orders prohibiting such actions.
“The High Court of Kaduna State, in multiple rulings between 2018 and 2021, ordered all parties to maintain the status quo. The commander’s deliberate disobedience of these injunctions is contempt of court and a dangerous affront to our constitutional democracy.”he said.
Citing the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Military Governor of Lagos State V. Ojukwu (1986), he reminded the authorities that no government agency, military or civilian, is above the law, describing the actions in Igabi as a direct assault on the judiciary.
The protesters demanded an immediate halt to planned demolitions, particularly in Hayin Mallam Auta, and called for the release of persons allegedly arrested and detained without warrants during the operations.
They urged the Federal and Kaduna State Governments, civil society groups, and the international community to urgently intervene, warning that continued defiance of judicial authority would not be tolerated.
Reacting earlier, ICC Commander Major General Yusuf defended the military’s position, saying illegal communities within Jaji Cantonment posed serious threats to national security and hampered training activities.
He explained that the Army was engaging the Kaduna State Government on relocating affected settlements, insisting that no lawful houses were demolished.
Abdullahi Shettima.
