The Nigerian Bar Association, Kaduna Branch, has led residents of six communities in Igabi Local Government Area in a peaceful protest against alleged illegal demolitions, human rights violations, and disregard of court orders by the Commander of the Infantry Corps Centre, Jaji.
The protest took place on Tuesday, as lawyers joined displaced residents from Mallam Auta, Ungwan Yohanna, Ungwan Aboki, Sabon Ungwan Loya, Ungwan Railway, and Ungwan Alhassan communities.
The protesters marched to the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Kaduna to air their grievances.
Chanting solidarity songs and carrying placards with inscriptions demanding respect for the rule of law, the protesters accused military authorities of acting above civil laws and ignoring judicial pronouncements.
Addressing journalists, Chairman of the NBA Kaduna Branch, Baba Lawal Aliyu, said the association was disturbed by what it described as demolitions of ancestral homes, arbitrary arrests, and forced evictions in Igabi, despite subsisting court orders.
Aliyu recalled that on August 15th, Ungwan Aboki community was demolished under heavy military guard in the middle of the night, leaving hundreds of families, including women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, homeless and stranded.
He further lamented that Hayin Mallam Auta community had already been marked for demolition despite multiple injunctions of the Kaduna State High Court ordering all parties to maintain the status quo between 2018 and 2021.
The NBA Chairman therefore urged the Federal and Kaduna State Governments, civil society organizations, and the international community to intervene, stressing that continuous defiance of judicial authority would not be tolerated.
Meanwhile, the Commander of the Infantry Corps Centre, Major General Usman Abdulmumin Yusuf earlier in a press briefing defended the Army’s actions, arguing that illegal settlements within Jaji Cantonment pose threats to national security and obstruct military training activities.