Except there is divine intervention, Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, will anytime from this weekend demolish some 40 churches and 3,000 houses in Gbagyi Villa, Chikun Local Government Area of the state.

Christian clerics and the entire Gbagyi community are kicking against the impending demolition and have cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari to come to their rescue.

The 21 days notice given to the community by the Kaduna State Government is to elapse this Friday, Friday 25, 2016.

Protesters that included male and female, late last week converged on a major road in the community that shares boundary with Kaduna Polytechnic Campus along Television Bye-Pass and Ungwan Romi.

The already marked houses for demolition also include private hospitals, private schools and many business places.

Chris Obodumu, Chairman of the community, read a statement jointly signed by him and Nasiru Jagaba, National Coordinator, Youth Wing of Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SUKAPU).

“This community,” he said, “has over 40 churches and 3,000 houses, if they are demolished them, where will we go and worship and shelter?”

Obodumu called on Governor El-Rufai to “come visit our community, come and inspect the physical facts on ground,” adding: “We believe you will agree with us that Gbagyi Villa deserves protection, not destruction.”

He appealed to President Buhari to impress on the government of Kaduna State the need for a change of heart.

“We call on all advocates of justice, peace, fairness and human rights to join us in our quest for the preservation of our community,” Obodumu added.

He said both the land and the polytechnic land were formerly one piece of land. “It was the ancestral land of Gbagyi people before part of it was ‘acquired’ by Kaduna Polytechnic,” Obodumu said.

The parcel of land is a source of dispute between Kaduna Polytechnic and the native Gbagyi people, who say they have not been duly paid to enable the transfer of ownership from them to the polytechnic.

The erstwhile government of late Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa had inaugurated a White Paper Committee on the dispute in May 2011, which looked into the matter and amicably demarcated the boundary between the two parties.

•Photo shows Governor El-Rufai.

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