El-Rufai confiscates land of Kaduna North's Senator Hunkuyi who defected to PDP this week

KADUNA State's Governor Nasir El-Rufai has wasted no time in taking action against the All Progressives Congress (APC) senators from his state who defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by confiscating the land of one of them

On Tuesday, 15 APC senators joined the PDP and among them was Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi from Kaduna North Senatorial District. Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central appears to have remained in the APC despite being a fierce critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, while Senator Danjuma Leah is a member of the PDP.

In a swift and brutal reaction to the defection, Governor El-Rufai has seized a plot of land belonging to Senator Hunkuyi and converted it into a children’s park. Earlier this year, a one storey-building belonging to Senator Hunkuyi was demolished by Governor El-Rufai on the site and work has commenced on the site with the area fenced off.

Senator Hunkuyi accused the government of violating a subsisting court order stopping further action on the land. However, an official of the Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency, said that since the certificate of occupancy of the land had been revoked, the agency no longer had any encumbrance on the land.

He added: “You recall that when the property was demolished, the ownership was revoked and the plot was handed over to us, so we are now building a children’s park there."

As a defendant in the suit over the land, the Kaduna State government had accused the senator of building on a green area, thereby violating the state master plan. However, Senator Hunkuyi told newsmen that the government’s action was a threat to democracy and should be condemned because if it is him today, it can be any other person tomorrow.

It appears looks the crisis will drag on as the senator has promised to challenge government’s action at the court of appeal. Over recent years, Senator Hunkuyi and Governor El-Rufai have been at loggerheads as the governor is one of the president's staunchest allies and the senator has become a fierce critic.