El-Rufai revokes Abacha hotel’s C of O, cites debt

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has revoked the Certificate of Occupancy belonging to the Durbar Hotel on Muhammadu Buhari Way by Independence Way in the state capital.

The governor said the property was revoked because the management of the hotel belonging to the late Gen. Sani Abacha family owed the state a ground rent of 19 years.

A high court in Kaduna had on January 21 restrained Governor El-Rufai and the Kaduna State Government from demolishing or taking over the hotel.

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The presiding judge had also adjourned the case till February 11, 2020.

However, a letter dated December 31, 2019, and addressed to Mohammed Abacha, which was made available to journalists on Thursday, announced the revocation of the property’s C of O.

One of the late General’s son, Mohammed Abacha, however, said he received the letter on January 29, 2020, but was dispatched on January 24, 2020, after the demolition of the hotel had been carried out.

The revocation letter was jointly signed on January 3rd, 2020, by Governor El-Rufai and the Deed Registrar, Yusuf Muawiyah of the Kaduna Geographic Information Service (KADGIS).

The letter also accused the Abacha family of “violation of terms of grant; security and safety risk of the people of Kaduna State.”

It added that “In the light of the above, we are hereby notified that the said plot of land has been revoke in line with Section 28 of the Land Used Act, 2004. CT

“Now therefore, in exercise of power conferred upon me by the Land Use Act, CAP L5 Laws of the Federation, Nigeria 2004, I hereby revoke with effect from the 30th day of December, 2019 the Right of Occupancy over the above mentioned plot.”