By: Bashir Hassan Abubakar
A Bauchi State High Court has issued an interim injunction restraining the State Security Service (SSS) and the Bauchi State Government from entering a vast parcel of land in Firo, Ganjuwa Local Government Area, following allegations of unlawful encroachment.
Presiding Judge Aliyu bin Idris gave the order on Tuesday after hearing a motion ex parte filed by Barrister Abdullatif Gwani Isa for landowners Hajiya Fatima Abdullahi, Ishaq Mohammed Kobi, and Murtala Isma’il in suit BA/251/2026.
The suit lists the Ministry of Land and Survey, the Attorney General, and the SSS Bauchi Command Headquarters as defendants.
According to Barrister Isa, the plaintiffs lawfully acquired the Firo land through purchase and grants from the Ganjuwa Local Government Authority and had exercised undisturbed possession, farming and demarcating plots for sale
He told the court that in 2020 the Ministry of Lands acquired portions from individuals, including Hajiya Fatima, for an SSS training school, but that deal did not cover the larger area now in dispute. In 2024, the SSS showed interest in buying 208 additional plots from her, yet allegedly failed to follow through before entering the land without authorization, notice, or compensation, mounting beacons and demarcating it.
Isa further alleged SSS agents issued death threats to claimants, warning they would shoot anyone who entered the land.
Granting the application, Justice Idris ordered the defendants to stop entering, mounting beacons, demarcating, or interfering with the applicants’ possessory rights over the land at Firo along Gubi Dam, pending hearing of the Motion on Notice.
The matter was adjourned to June 18, 2026.
