Activist Aisha Yesufu says it is ironic that the administration of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State promotes KadInvest annually yet the government unjustly demolishes the business premises of investors.
Yesufu, who stated this in an interview with The Punch on Saturday, said it is pathetic how state governors take laws into their hands to oppress the masses.
She also described as “absolutely absurd”, the demolition of Asher Lounge, venue of a botched sex party which was brought down by the Kaduna State Urban and Planning Development Authority on December 31, 2020.
The state government had stated that it demolished the building for planning to host a nude party but later made a U turn, stating that the main reason for the demolition was that the building had no approval, and that the operators violated the Covid protocols.
However, the organisers of the party had told the press that the proposed nude party never held and it was just a prank to attract attendees.
Reacting, Yesufu, who was one of the arrowheads of the #EndSARS protests against police brutality last October, urged the restaurateur, Aisha Yakubu, to sue the state government for the injustice done to her and her business.
The activist said, “What right does the state government have to demolish somebody’s building because there is going to be a sex party at the place? For example, anyone of us can have a house in Kaduna and somebody puts an address online for a sex party and the next thing, the government goes to demolish it? It is absolutely absurd. It’s really pathetic the way state governors seem to take laws into their hands, they are just behaving anyhow.”
She lamented that “the emotional investment, the financial investment, everything invested in the business was brought down just like that. And this is a state that prides itself on getting people to come in to invest. Every year it holds the Kaduna Investment programme where it encourages people to come in to invest in the state. And here it is, in its action, saying to people that it can wake up in the morning and bring down their business buildings and all their investments.”
According to the Kaduna State government, KadInvest is an annual platform to showcase the rich investment opportunities Kaduna State offers across many sectors of the economy. The fifth edition of the programme was held in September 2020.