The Christian Community on Campus (CCC), Kaduna State University (KASU), has called for the state government intervention over the demolition of its worship chapel under construction, in the interest of peace.

The Christian community made the call in a statement, jointly signed by its coordinator, Ishaya Auta, and secretary, Emmanuel Monday, and made available to journalists in Kaduna on Monday.

The CCC expressed displeasure that in the 17 years of existence of the university, the large Christian community does not have a place of worship, while the Muslim community has five mosques.

They explained that the university’s governing council had, in its 49th meeting on April 14, 2014, allocated and approved a space of land for the Christian community to build a worship chapel.

They said that after securing permission from the university’s Directorate of Physical Planning and Development to commence construction in 2016, they mobilised to the site only to be directed to halt the construction.

The community added that in 2020, the university allocated another land to construct the worship centre, which they accepted and mobilised to the site in 2021, but again they were asked to stop work.

“On Nov. 22, 2021, we wrote a petition to the Kaduna State University Visitation Panel over the lingering issue, and the panel recognised the newly allocated site.

“Again, after mobilising to the site, we received a stop-work notice on January 7, 2022, from the registrar of the university, and we complied.”

He said the community wrote to the school management on March 29, seeking permission to resume construction but didn’t get a response.

“While work was in progress, Mr Ismail Dikko, Director-General, Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KASUPDA), visited the site and stopped the ongoing construction on the grounds that it lacked the required permit,” they said.

The CCC added that on June 6, KASUPDA officials in the company of security personnel came to the campus and demolished the chapel’s foundation under construction.

They claimed that KASUPDA did not officially write to them on the matter but went ahead to demolish a structure yet to be marked for demolition based on its procedure.

“The university has over a hundred structures without a building permit from KASUPDA, why is the case of the KASU Chapel different?”

When contacted, the spokesperson for the university, Adamu Bargo, confirmed that the structure was demolished because due process was not followed.

Mr Dikko confirmed Mr Bargo’s claim in a statement in Kaduna on Friday that the demolished structure violated extant laws.

Mr Bargo, in a statement in Kaduna on Monday, said that the university management had earlier issued a directive for the stoppage of any construction work on the temporary Christian worship centre in 2021.

He explained that the directive followed the controversy surrounding the site, pending government intervention.

“All submissions have been made through the Ministry of Education and other relevant authorities on the Master Plan for the main campus indicating places of worship.

“Members of the Christian community and the general public are hereby called upon to maintain calm pending the decision of the Government, the Governing Council and KASU Management,” he said.

(NAN)