Alleged land encroachment: Kaduna court orders Nigerian Army to pay N1,000 each to 260 aggrieved members of host communities

The Nigerian Army has been ordered by the Kaduna State High Court to pay N260,000 in costs to the host communities of its Jaji Military Cantonment.

Justice Hannatu Balogun, who gave the judgment on Thursday, demanded that the army pay N1,000 to each of the 260 members of the host communities who brought the military before the court and provide the court proof of payment.

Additionally, Justice Balogun commanded the army to permit community residents access to their farmland.

The Plaintiffs’ Counsel, Kimi Livingston, filed contempt proceedings against the General Officer Commanding, 1Division and some senior officers of the Division, alleging that the army refused to obey the court order which stopped the construction of a perimeter fence around Jaji barracks.

The plaintiffs also accused the army of blocking their access to their farmland, villages and communities during the pendency of the case.

However, the respondents were reportedly not in court but sent a letter stating that officers occupying the offices had been transferred to other places.

But the judge refused to accept the letter, and the defendant’s counsel, Aliyu Ibrahim, told the court that he would ensure that the officers were in court personally on July 10.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim denied the allegations of stopping the communities from having access to their farmland.

The host communities within the Jaji Military Cantonment in November 2020 sued the Army over alleged encroachment of their ancestral land.

The communities including Wusono, Ungwan Auta, Labar and Ungwan Alhassan were in court because the military had started fencing the community into the cantonment while the settlement was ongoing.