Women, children protest Zaria demolition

Women and children yesterday staged a peaceful protest in Zaria over plan by Kaduna State government to demolish houses in the area.
Our correspondent reports that about 400 houses that are located at Nasarawan Kofar Doka were marked for demolition by officials of the Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KASUPDA).
The agency recently sacked a community behind the Alhudahuda College, Zaria, when all the houses in the area were demolished, while planned demolition of another community, Kofar Kibo, was stopped by a state High Court.
Nasarawan Kofar Doka is the third community that the agency has earmarked for demolition.
The women and their teenage sons and daughters trooped out as early as 6am to protest the plan.
Efforts to get the government to react proved abortive, as Samuel Aruwan, Special Assistant to Governor El-Rufa’i on Media, did not reply a message sent to him.
However, an official of KASUPDA said the houses earmarked for demolition were erected on the lands belonging to the Zaria Fire Service and Library.