The Public Complaints Commission on Tuesday called on the Kaduna State Government to urgently intervene in the lingering land dispute between the military and Kabama community of Sabon Gari Local Government Area.
The Head of the commission in the state, Alhaji Muhammad Maude, who made the call at a news conference in Kaduna, said the dispute was over the location of a shooting range.
Maude said the people of Kabama community had complained to the commission that the military encroached on their when it built a shooting range.
He added that on investigation the commission discovered that the Kaduna State Government had in 2012 constituted a committee to review all land issues between the military and civilian communities.
“Among the areas revisited was the Kabama community land issue.
“We studied the committee’s report which recommended that the military should compensate the people of the community with N140.5 million and relocate them to another location.
“But since the committee submitted their report, nothing has been done about it which explained why the issue kept coming up.
“We also undertook a physical tour of the shooting range and what we discovered was that the only thing standing between the community and the shooting range is a fence.
“This predisposes the people to stray bullets and all kinds of danger that may emerge during military activities in the range,’’ he said.
He added that in the opinion of the commission, the location of the shooting range was not in line with global best practices, noting that the ideal thing to do was to relocate the shooting range.
“It is not in line with global best practices to have a military shooting range in an inhabited area because casualties are bound to occur when bullets goes beyond the range.
“It will be easier and cheaper for the military to relocate to a more quiet area instead of relocating the community.
“With half of that amount, the military can establish a state of the art shooting range away from the people,’’ he said.
Maude, therefore called on the state government to live up to it responsibility and act promptly either by ensuring that the military paid the compensation of N140.5 million and relocate the community.
“Or look for a more suitable place to establish the shooting range for the military.
“All we are saying is that the state government should act fast to avert any catastrophic incident between the military and the community.
“Already, information reaching us alleged that the military have started arresting people in the community. The government must act fast to avert a catastrophe,’’ Maude said. (NAN)
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