…urges state agency to document gov’s reversal order
Jacob Attah, Kaduna.
The Kaduna State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria has commended the Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s administration’s decision to spare the 110-year-old St. George Anglican Church, Zaria from being demolished.
CAN Chairman in the state, Rev. Joseph Hayab, gave the commendation while speaking with our correspondent on the phone, following Friday’s clarification by the Director – General of the Kaduna State Urban Planning Development Agency, Ismail Dikko, that the Church won’t be touched because of its historical value.
KASUPDA was said to have served the 110-year-old St. George Anglican Church, Sabon Gari, Zaria, a seven-day quit notice, which it claimed was a directive from Governor El-Rufai.
Following the alarm raised on Thursday by CAN, KASUPDA’s boss reversed the eviction order on the church.
“The Church will remain based on its historical value, while the market source for expansion elsewhere,” the KASUPDA DG had said.
The CAN chairman, however, commended the state government by heeding the cries of the people by reversing its earlier decision to demolish the century old church.
Hayab noted that democracy could thrive only when government hearken to the cries of the people it governs.
The CAN boss said, “We commend the government for this act. What we are saying is that government should remain a listening government. Democracy thrives when government listens to the people, but when government don’t listen to the people, people think negatively about every action it takes.
“What we are doing is simply to remind government that we are not at war with them. We are just raising the alarm; we are just another added eyes for them to see and know what is happening to the people.
“So, if they do good, we will clap for them, but if they don’t, we will tell them that something is wrong and that people are crying.”
The CAN chairman, however, pleaded that the KASUPDA DG’s reverse order on the demolition of the church be documented for future references.
He said, “But we want to quickly draw their attention to three things – that our cry about the quit notice and the clarification or response on it shows that the DG knows about it and, therefore, not made. It was a true quit notice.
“We want them to document the response by the DG so that their officials, when they come in future, we will show them the document from them. So that it won’t just be a mere paper statement. If they do that, we will appreciate them.
“The last one, which we feel strongly about is, when they said we don’t have valid document; we are saying probably, they have not checked their records well. But we have already instructed the Church that by Monday or Tuesday, they should go with their valid documents to reconcile so that in the future, we will not be saying someone is wrong when in the real sense, he is right.”
