The Nation Newspaper

Tag: demolition

  • That Enugu MFM demolition

    Two incidents of almost equal magnitude and public hype, in relation to their unusual nature, occurred in the past few weeks in Enugu and Bayelsa states as regards the appropriate legal circumstances and interpretations that can warrant the forceful demolition of private individual or corporate property.

    The occurrences bring to the front-burner, the disparate nature and modus operandi of the Nigerian ruling elite’s attitude and disposition to the enforcement of the Rule of Law, especially in the implementation of set government (or the leader’s) goals and policies in diverse circumstances.

    In the first instance, Governor Sullivan Iheanacho Chime of Enugu State finally made good his threat of August 2012 that he will demolish the South-east regional headquarters of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) Ministries, if after 72 hours, the authorities of the Christian organisation refuse to relocate from the site. Realising the enormity of the “fatwa”, MFM went to an Enugu State High Court seeking some judicial reliefs among which were an order restraining the governor and his agents from carrying out this threat until the determination of the main action which among others is to affirm MFM’s ownership of the plots of land in contention.

    For a year, Governor Sullivan Chime chose to obey the resulting court order that the status quo ante be maintained, in the breach. In an uncommon display of the law-abiding corporate citizen that it is, the MFM authorities listened to pleas of an out-of-court settlement bargain only to be saddled with a 20-plot alternative site between the Amaechi and Ngwo communities on Emeka Ebile Road. This ready offer of 20 plots of land turned out to be a Greek Gift and a hot potato as the Amaechi and Ngwo communities are currently locked in dispute over the rightful ownership of the ancestral lands.

    To compound matters, the same government had already allocated a sizeable portion of this land to another Christian organisation which has commenced development. It was in this mishmash of extant government’s approvals of 1998, 2002 and 2010; a legal Certificate of Occupancy and a subsisting Enugu State High Court order that the demolition “armada” of Enugu State government rolled on to the Zik Avenue Bridge, Uwani location of the MFM Regional Headquarters, some few weeks ago and laid waste the sprawling complex, in strict contempt of its own court!

    Conversely, on Wednesday, October 30, the private house of the sitting Governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson, on Opolo-AIT Road, in Yenagoa, the state capital, was demolished by the Capital City Development Authority, supervised by the Deputy Governor of the state, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha Jonah (retd). The infractions? (a) Obstructing the Right of Way and (b) Intruding on the Capital City’s Master Plan, two offences that town planners say are prime criteria for such structure(s) to be demolished after the legally-allowed notice.

    In the case of the MFM Regional Headquarters, the Sullivan Chime administration accused the authorities of the Enugu MFM of intruding on the adjoining water channel over which the Zik Avenue Bridge traverses. The irony of it all is that relevant agents and prescribed authorities of the state government approved the initial Certificate of Occupancy issued in 1998 and subsequently okayed the remodelling/reconstruction works carried out in 2002 and 2010 to provide space for its continuously-expanding congregation. On all these occasions, the church had always maintained the legal set back limit from the adjoining water channel. More so, the “infraction” quoted by the Enugu State government, in counterpoise to the Bayelsa one, was a minor infraction on which the Chime administration visited the most drastic and inhuman weight of his government on the Mountain of Fire and Miracles.

    It is conventional wisdom that this Janus-faced application of the Rule of Law has, in many instances brought sorrow, despair and despondency to the victims, as in the MFM building case, and joy and contentment in the Bayelsa State one in which the actual Rule of Law was allowed to prevail without the extant law being circumvented.

    Cases abound where the assessments and eventual demolition or acquisition of landed properties by federal and state governments are predicated on extra-judicial parameters such as political affiliation, peer group, ethnic affinity, mutual religion etc. which are the prime indices of consideration in determining what structure should stand (or acquired), fall etc, regardless of what the extant relevant laws say.

    The framers of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria were fully conscious of the fact that ownership or acquisition, control and transfer or real estate of landed property are by nature, contentious and should be guided and shielded by explicit constitutional provisions in addition to that of the nation’s statute books. The condensation of these two lines of protection against arbitrary abuse sometimes does not provide the needful in terms of adherence to the Rule of Law.

    In many cases, some of these provisions have been consciously sidelined or misinterpreted by government agents to suit their whims and caprices. A vivid example is Chapter IV, Section 44 Sub-Sections 1a and 1b of the Constitution which says “No moveable property or any interest in an immoveable property shall be taken possession of compulsorily and no right over or interest in any such property shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of Nigeria except in any manner and for the purposes prescribed by a law that, among other things – (a) requires the prompt payment of compensation therefor; and (b) gives to any person claiming such compensation a right of access for the determination of his interest in the property and the amount of compensation to a court of law or tribunal or body having jurisdiction in that part of Nigeria.”

    These provisions and other relevant ones are being obeyed in the breach by the Enugu State government as regards the Regional Headquarters of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) in Enugu.

    In spite of these legal and constitutional provisions that tend to protect and guarantee the acquisition of immoveable property anywhere in the country, cases abound where some prescribed authorities (Federal, State and Local Governments) choose what court judgments, injunctions or orders to obey. In this conscious mindset of selective amnesia, the cause of justice is not served and the prevailing Rule of Impunity is strengthened, perpetuated and institutionalised.

    The Enugu MFM building demolition scenario did not follow due process as there was no synergy of purpose by the various government’s MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies) involved in the approving, vetting, assessing and execution of any order on a property that had stood on that spot for 15 years.

    The Enugu State government should do the needful and put this sad episode behind her by apologising for the travesty of justice done in this circumstance; allocating a new site devoid of contention or bickering and paying commensurate compensation to offset the grievous acts of wilful damages visited on the Enugu MFM Regional Headquarters in Uwani, Enugu, the state capital.

    • Umerah writes from Asata-Enugu, Enugu State

  • PDP crisis: Another building marked for demolition in Abuja

    PDP crisis: Another building marked for demolition in Abuja

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has marked for demolition a multi-million naira complex belonging to a member of the New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP).

    The owner of the complex, Senator Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan, raised the alarm over the alleged plan to demolish the complex at a news conference in Abuja yesterday.

    Al-Hassan, the senator representing Taraba North Senatorial District, said she had been given 48 hours on Thursday to remove her A-Class Park located in the highbrow Maitama area of Abuja.

    Addressing journalists yesterday, Al-Hassan traced the decision by the FCTA to demolish the complex to her membership of the nPDP.

    She said: “On the 26th of September 2013, in fulfillment of the PDP threat to deal with members of the Baraje-led division of the PDP, a two-week notice to demolish the A-class park and event centre was served on A-Class Events Management Services Limited, and yesterday (Thursday), another notice, a 48-hour notice dated 24th October 2013, was also issued.

    “I am a free born citizen of Nigeria whose rights to freedom of choice and association are guaranteed under Chapter 4 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 as amended.

    “If because of the grievances that I have against my party, the PDP, especially its leadership at state level, I decided to belong to an aggrieved divide of the party led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje, I see no reason why I or any member of the divide should be witch-hunted or persecuted and many other Nigerians (park owners and workers) punished.”

    Al-Hassan said that in response to a letter by the FCTA directing A-Class to vacate its location, the management of A-Class park wrote to the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, urging him to allow the park to continue operation until such a time that actual and physical development of the Maitama Transit Way would commence.

    The park, she said, also reminded Mohammed of relevant sections of the allocation letter which said that the allocation was pending the identification of an alternative site.

    She said that the space for the park was given to her when authorities of the FCTA discovered that the place earlier allocated to her was encumbered.

    She said: “By another letter reference AMMC/P&R/S.500 dated 17th March 2010 from Park and Recreation Department of the FCTA, approval was given to A-Class Events Management Services Limited to develop and manage a park on a site measuring approximately 3.0 hectares on the transit way corridor Maitama District.”

    She noted that one of the conditions in the letter of allocation of plot 102 A00 was that the offer was for a five-year period in the first instance, renewable after satisfactory performance.

    The lawmaker said it might interest Nigerians to know that while she was being hounded and issued threats to demolish A-Class Park, two other parks were given approval to operate parks in the same area.

    She noted that contrary to the promise of an alternative site for A-Class Park, none was given “despite several reminders to the minister by me personally and through my colleague and brother, Senator Smart Adeyemi, the Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT.”

    She added that the development of the Maitama Transit Way was yet to commence.

    According to her, “the Maitama Transit Way will only be developed and linked to the light rail lines when completed, and everybody knows as fact that the light rail line project that will go round the FCT with linkages to many transit ways within the city is not anywhere near completion.

    “If A-Class Park and Events Centre is demolished with others on the transit ways as alleged by the FCTA, what will the FCTA do with the space since development of the transit ways is not even in contemplation now?”

    The Taraba-born lawmaker lamented that more than 200 employees at the highbrow park were about to lose their means of livelihood.

    She called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the matter. “I am calling on him that he should see what his officers are doing because whether it is development control, whether it is FCTA, whether it is the minister or not, they are all members of the executive that are doing this, and they are doing this contrary to his vision of wanting to employ the Nigerian youths to make them useful to themselves and to Nigeria.

    “This single act of demolishing this park, they are just hiding behind assertion that no people have been building on transit ways. People have been building on corridors. Who gave the people permission to build?

    “If you are not authorised to be in a place in this FCT, will you stay one hour without being chased out by development control?

    “They gave all the people, knowing full well that these places are road corridors. Right now, why I am saying that it is a case of witch-hunting and persecution is because I know for a fact too that they are not ready now to develop this transit way.

    “I know too as a legislator that no money is given in the budget to develop this transit way. With due respect to them, it is not true.

    “They are not developing anything. They are just persecuting me.”

    But the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) yesterday said that its planned demolition of the park no political undertone.

    A statement by the Special Adviser (Media) to the FCT Minister, Nosike Ogbuenyi, said that the Development Control Department of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) over a month ago commenced the processes leading to the closure and removal of all temporary recreational facilities situated on the public transit ways within the Abuja Federal Capital City as the Administration’s major road and railway projects were in progress.

    It added that the planned demolition of the of the park was in the public interest.

    The statement reads in part: “The attention of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has been drawn to a press conference conducted earlier today by Senator (Mrs) Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan where she claimed that the quit notice served on her event centre, A-Class, Maitama District by the FCTA had political undertone.

    “We wish to state that the quit notice has no political motive whatsoever as her facility is sitting on the public transit way.

    “As a matter of fact, the Development Control Department of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) over a month commenced the processes leading to the closure and removal of all temporary recreational facilities situated on the public transit ways within the Abuja Federal Capital City as the Administration’s major road and railway projects are in progress.

    “The quit notices being given in the course of the exercise are not targeted at any person or group of persons. They are also not politically motivated as claimed by Mrs. Alhassan.

    “Rather, they are part of FCTA’s routine administrative processes aimed at ensuring strict compliance with the provisions of the Abuja Master Plan.

    “The allegation by Mrs. Sani Alhassan, the owner of A-Class, one out of many affected gardens, that the administrative measures have political undertone is untrue and most uncharitable.

    “The A-Class is not the only recreation centre on the public transit way that was served quit notice. For instance, Leisure Park, which is directly opposite A-Class, among other non-conforming land users, was also served the same quit notice.

    “It will be recalled that at the end of a recent monthly FCTA Operational Briefing over a month ago, the FCT Executive Council had reiterated the determination of the Administration to strictly enforce the provisions of the Abuja Master Plan as an ongoing process.

    “In the process, a total of 202 cases of land use violation have been sealed across the Federal Capital City.

    “That shows clearly that there is no political motive whatsoever behind the quit notices, as they were informed by time honoured rules and regulations guiding development of structures in the Federal Capital City and such rules are not targeted at individuals or groups of persons.

    “Mrs. Sani Alhassan should therefore desist from reading political or other parochial meanings to normal and general administrative measures intended to uphold the intent of the Abuja Master Plan and the overriding public interest.”

  • Baraje PDP secretariat for demolition

    The secretariat of the Kawu Baraje–led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is to be demolished having been marked by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

    The building located at Number 4, Oyi River Crescent, l Maitama District, was sealed off almost immediately after it emerged that the faction would use the place.

    They subsequently moved their activities to the Adamawa State Lodge along Katsina Ala Street in Maitama District of Abuja.

    That place was also was sealed off, with the FCTA claiming that the area is not for commercial activities.

    The FCTA’s inscription on red ink was visible on the wall and gate of the building but there is less security unlike when the place was sealed off.

    The National Publicity Secretary of the Abubakar Baraje faction, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze confirmed to our correspondent on the telephone last night that the faction was aware of the move to demolish the property.

    Eze said: ”We are aware of it. Nigerians should prepare for the worst because we have cried out enough. They are telling us that we are not entitled to own property in our own fatherland. They want to prove to the world that they are more Nigerians than the rest of us.

    “This is a property with all the necessary documents duly certified by the approving authority. They were calling us names when we cried out that these people never meant well for the country and its people.

    “ Now they have left no one in doubt that they are intolerant of opposing views. Nigerians can now see what we meant when we said that these people are no democrats. We certainly need prayers at this point in our nation’s history. We are pleading with the Nigerian people to be praying for us. We need serious prayers”.

     

  • Demolition of Mokola flyover barrier

    SIR: My heart bled recently when I heard the news of the demolishing of the barrier on the flyover constructed by the government of Oyo State in Ibadan. I worked in Ibadan as a federal civil servant for 35 years, retiring in 2010 and leaving the state for Ekiti State, my home state.

    The Oyo State that we knew between 2003 and 2011 was a state of fear and anguish, where you needed ‘intelligence report’ about the different areas of the state capital before you set out in the morning. Gangsters and violent people took over virtually everywhere, with governments said to be supporting some of the miscreants. The state capital was unusually dirty throughout this period and the state secretariat, built by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was a shadow of itself.

    I was in Ibadan a few months ago and saw the wonders of transformation. I am not a politician but I think we should be man enough to commend whoever is transforming the environment. Not only is the state capital very clean and beautiful now, I was impressed by the infrastructural renewal going on. I could, for example, hardly recognize Magazine Road, Agbarigo Road, Eleyele Road and even the Challenge Interchange!

    Of all these wonders in the new Oyo State, the one that was the most magnificent to behold is the new Mokola Bridge. The bridge is an architectural masterpiece that has indeed transformed the state capital. When I now read in the newspapers that some miscreants were commissioned to demolish the barrier of the bridge, I was afraid that the enemies of progress who had been responsible for the comatose nature of the state are at work. If Oyo State returns to that era of filth and bloodshed, Yorubaland is done for, for Ibadan is the political capital of the Yoruba people.

    I call on President Goodluck Jonathan to summon security agencies to Oyo State and apprehend the culprits responsible for the demolition of the barrier. If care is not taken, one day, they will bring diggers and caterpillars to demolish what, for now, is the advertisement of the arrival of Oyo State on the development scene.

    • Ademola Kumapayi,

    Igosun Road, Ado-Ekiti.

     

  • Oyo denies demolition of centre

    The Director-General of the Oyo State Public Works Department, Mr. Taiwo Akintola, has debunked the claim by the owner of the Jogor Events Centre in Ibadan, Mr. Femi Babalola, that the government demolished his property.

    In a statement yesterday, Akintola described the claim as “a fabrication to win undeserved sympathy”.

    He said the government did not flout any court order concerning the events centre situated behind Plot 3, Ibadan Municipal Government Layout, on the Liberty Stadium Road.

    Akintola said: “Nobody demolished his property. The government removed illegal structures, a fence and a gate house, which he erected on the road linking two communities, Joyce-B and Liberty Stadium.

    “The government’s action was right and in the public interest. This administration has great respect for justice and equity, not sentiments.

    Babalola’s court order was specifically on his property and the fence of his events centre. It did not include his trespass on a public road. The government will not allow any individual, no matter how highly placed, to do anything overriding the public interest.”

    Akintola said residents had been praising the government for removing the “illegal structures” and opening up the road.

    Babalola sued the government, seeking an injunction restraining it from carrying out any construction work(s) or trespassing on the property.

  • Demolition, governors and compensation

    Demolition, governors and compensation

    Our indulgence in illegality, lawlessness and complete disregard for town planning, has made demolition a necessary pre-condition for urban renewal and regeneration. Though this environmental abuse still persists, the degree of violation during military rule was of an unprecedented dimension. Possibly because of their I-can-do-whatever-I-like mentality, the khaki guys tore law into shreds, imposing whim as the rule and caprice as the order. Being strangers to urbanity, these gun-boys virtually turned everywhere to “mammy markets” by allowing their wives, girlfriends, relations and cronies to construct shanties and other nihilistic dens of lubricious retreat on highways and in urban centres. The remnants of civility in them were inadequate to avail them any conjectured refinement.

    Exploiting this cronyism caused by the activities of the military rulers and their accomplices, other people of insignificant identity joined in the shanty fiasco. Officials of ministries of Lands and Environment saw this as an avenue for fraudulent operations. They gave official approval for illegal constructions in decent places after some monetary inducements. People now went gaga and littered the whole town with all sorts of shanties and frightful structures. They built on highways. They built on waterways. They built on setbacks. They built on drains. They built on footpaths. They built on walkways. Our cities were turned into jungles as if we were human beasts. Open spaces for recreation were converted into domiciles by children of vanity. Open spaces in various Government Residential Areas (GRAs) were given to “Ogas at the top” to build mansions. It was a carnival of weird humanity. They choked the environment with eyesores. They allowed no space for oxygen by felling all the trees of life that can prolong human life. Breathing became a stressful activity for both man and mammal. Everywhere was hot. Our response to climate change was awful. We had no creative program to manage global warming or “greenhouse effect” – an obvious threat to human existence. Nobody planted trees. But everybody was uprooting trees to create space for buildings forgetting that trees breathe life into us while buildings only return our heat back to us. People no longer complied with rules and regulations. Highways had their rules but people flouted them. Waterways had their regulations but people violated them. The rules on road setbacks were also discountenanced. There were regulations on drains but these were also despised. The footpaths and walkways were equally violated and abused beyond comprehension. There was no policy or program on beautification because the military boys understood little or nothing about greening and the philosophy behind it.

    The whole scandal became messier with approvals being given to all and sundry for the building of petrol stations here and there without sparing some thought for the safety of the people. Every street, every road, every crescent, every estate, every highway, every avenue became licensed with a petrol station without taking into cognizance the distance between those petrol stations and fire station. It was a horrible stampede of the moguls of oil and gas in the midst of society’s dregs.

    The new crop of educated and enlightened leaders that succeeded the military rulers, and later the PDP usurpers, especially in the South West, took umbrage at this kind of negative attitude towards the environment. They saw that urban renewal, urban development and urban regeneration were more environmental friendly than the nuisance of the past. They came up with the idea of first reducing the heat in the air by embarking on extensive beautification program involving tree planting and some greening project that will clean up our atmosphere. This project entailed the demolition of some of the illegal structures that were products of historic blunders. These new leaders also thought of constructing new roads where illegal structures had been erected as well as creating space for the expansion of existing ones. This also would compel demolition. Besides, as a result of heavy flooding and the havoc it had wreaked, these leaders felt they needed to open up the canals and the waterways to reduce the tragedies of tsunamis in our society. Consequently, some, if not all, these illegal structures on the waterways had to go. For the purpose of adding value to properties and human life, urban development and renewal had become imperative. Therefore, all the shanties that seemed to have devalued properties in the urban centers had to go.

    These are some of the reasons that had compelled demolition in some of the States. Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State wanted to regenerate Okirika by buying the houses, shanties and illegal structures in that locality in order to end the environmental assault on the pupils of a primary school in the vicinity, nevertheless, Patience Jonathan was impatient to understand the motive for the demolition. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State was visibly angry with the people of Olorunda who had built houses on waterways thus causing the flood at Dalemore that swept a little boy into eternity; he ordered the immediate demolition of all those illegal structures. Some people thought it was a political suicide knowing that the next election was fast approaching, the governor would however, not play politics with the lives of his people and stuck to his decision. If flood swept away all his people, who was he going to govern? Babatunde Fashola was interested in tackling the crimes of Lagos State from the source and this was why he and his troops invaded Badia, a notorious showroom for sodomy. Abiola Ajimobi of Ibadan felt that the good people of Ibadan needed some breathing space, so, he decided to demolish illegal structures at Onireke, Dugbe, Golf Club, Eleyele, Jericho and Aleshinloye.

    The latest of all these demolitions is the one going on in Osun State where Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is contending with ‘certain political forces’ that are determined to frustrate his urban renewal/development program. The specific areas affected by this demolition exercise for now include Olaiya, Okefia, Road Safety Road, Ogo-Oluwa, Fakunle and Government House Annex. What makes the Osun episode look complicated is the caliber and status of those affected by the exercise. One of the major victims is the Governor of the State himself whose campaign office lost its fence to the demolition. The police had also lost a number of structures in the exercise. And of note is the PDP secretariat. But its members had vowed to resist the demolition with the last drop of their blood. I think the PDP was only being mischievous because the demolition is not about the party secretariat but just the extension of their frontage which contravenes the setback rule. If the police and the governor had allowed the demolition of their own structures, why should the PDP create a scene about the demolition of its own fence? Why do we like heating up the polity in this part of the clime?

    I admire the courage of the governor for doing this just few months to another election. It shows how confident he was of his re-election and also the massive support he enjoys from the people of the state for his urban renewal program. The demolition, aside from the theatrics of the PDP, has not generated much furore as one would have anticipated. This cooperative attitude of the people may have encouraged the governor’s decision to set aside ?600 million as compensation for the victims of the demolition on “compassionate grounds.”

    My quarrel is not with the payment of compensation but the fact that not all the victims deserved to be paid. Those who should be compensated are those who were granted approval by the state either by default or administrative lapses. The government should be held responsible for its officers’ dereliction of duty. Is the state also contemplating the payment of compensation to those who extended their frontage beyond what is prescribed by the law? I am sure the government will not do this for the obvious reason that the governor’s campaign office falls into this category. And it is politically inexpedient for the governor and his team to play into the hands of their political opponents. Besides, the governor and his campaign team do not need the compensation since their office was never affected beyond its frontage fence. But others who, of their own volition, decided to build structures on government land deserved no compensation.

    But is it not strange that instead of prosecuting people who had committed illegalities, we are appeasing them with compensation? First, they had used state facility (land) to generate personal income for some years without the consent of the state. Second, they had caused the state to spend huge resources that should have been expended on some other social services, on the demolition exercise. Three, they had, through their activities, encouraged others to engage in such illegalities hence the proliferation of the shanties. Four, compensation will not allow them to feel the guilt of their action. Five, compensating them will create the impression that government had acted wrongly.

    Government should at all times let its citizens know that if they operate outside the confines of the law, they would be penalized and not compensated. Indiscriminate construction of buildings and structures outside government regulations will drastically deface the landscape architecture of the state. Citizens who act lawfully have nothing to fear but those whose actions are inimical to the system will always run into trouble. For instance, the Western Avenue/Barracks road was four lanes until recently. The road had houses on both sides. And this had been like that since 1957 or thereabout. When the Tinubu and Fashola administrations decided to expand the road to its present ten lanes (including the two BRT corridors),they did not have to demolish any structures nor pay any compensation because nobody had trespassed on the setback.

    The issue of compensation is also very complex. Experience had shown that some victims of demolition usually collected compensation more than once. Having collected compensation from a previous administration that intended to use the land for a project that was put in abeyance, the compensated family never returned the money to the government. When a new government comes to demolish their structures, they make fresh demand for compensation keeping silent on the one they had collected in the past. Though government has a way of finding this out, some smart ones had beaten the government to this by not being detected.

    The beautiful landscape architecture of a state, its urban renewal and regeneration, its road infrastructure, the dynamic elements of its atmosphere and the serenity of its environment remain the fundamentals of every government’s philosophy. But the attainment and the capacity for their sustainability require the cooperation and understanding of every citizen that desires progress for his state. It is not compensation nor compassion that stimulates compliance but government’s political will to inspire obedience in all its citizens.

  • Group condemns hotel demolition

    The Campaign for Democracy (CD) yesterday condemned the Anambra State government for its hurried demolition of Upper Class Hotel without conclusive investigation.

    The three-storey building was demolished on the orders of Governor Peter Obi last Thursday and Friday, following the alleged discovery of two fresh human heads, two AK47 rifles, three loaded cartridges and a military cap in the hotel.

    CD in a statement by Dede Uzor A. Uzor, Chairman, CD Southeast condemned the demolition, which it said was hasty.

    “Governor Obi acted arbitrary and undemocratically. He ought to have allowed the police conclude their investigation before moving ahead to demolish the hotel.

    “The owner of the hotel should have been given a fair hearing and benefit of doubt.

    “What if tomorrow, there is strong established evidence that Bonaventure Mokwe was not culpable of the crime alleged against him?

    “What if tomorrow, those who might have planned the tarnishing evidence come to confess and plead for forgiveness?” it said.

     

  • Demolition: Ekiti to compensate owners of approved buildings

    Demolition: Ekiti to compensate owners of approved buildings

    The Ekiti State Government will compensate the owners of buildings with approved plans, which have been marked for demolition in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

    The Commissioner for Housing, Physical Planning and Urban

    Development, Remi Olorunleke, spoke yesterday while supervising the demolition of some buildings at Nova.

    The government is demolishing buildings obstructing the waterways to prevent flooding.

    Olorunleke urged the people to always get the government’s approval before building any structure.

    Urging residents of marked buildings to vacate them before the demolition gets to their door steps, he said a notice was served on landlords over three weeks ago.

    The commissioner praised landlords that have complied with the directive and assured residents that the government will continue to make life more meaningful for them.

  • High price, result of demolition

    The Lagos State government, in its bid to sanitise Daleko market, recently demolished some illegal kiosks in front of the market, claiming some are too close to the main road, while others are causing hindrance at the market entrance.

    Traders are, therefore, lamenting the increment in rice price blaming it on the recent demolition. They said they are no longer patronised by shoppers who used to buy bags of rice in large quantity. Traders said a bag of rice used to cost N7000, now it is sold for between N10,000 and 12,000 depending on the type. The hike in rice price now make shoppers go for Cotonou rice instead. “Cotonou rice is cheaper but of low quantity” said Mr. shola Bashorun, one of the traders in the market, identifies the Cotonou rice – Rosase, Lion king and Pure. Mama Gold which is one of the best cost N13,000.

    The reason for the demolition is to ensure traders stay within the market compound and are orderly. Some traders are not happy with the new look of the market because they earn their living from these demolished kiosk.

    Some of the displacesd traders have relocated, while others have resolved in trading in their various homes because they can’t afford shop rent claiming that rent is on the high side.

    Mrs. Aina Olaiya is one of the displaced traders who can no longer sell, because there is no space for her and her goods. “I have been here managing for years. But now that the government doesn’t want attachments outside the market, I am left helpless,” she said.

    Mrs. Sufiat Adekoya said the government should have provided an alternative for them before displacing them “I have no husband that feeds me. It is from this petty trade that I feed my children and send them to school. Now that we have been sent packing where will I get money to feed and send my children to school?. Government should have given us another space rather than sending us away,” she said.

    Mr. Kola Animashaun is a ticket seller. He lamented while speaking with The Nation Shopping saying that he no longer has people to sell ticket to as the kiosk owners seen outside the market used to be his clients.

  • Lagos residents want court to stop govt from demolition

    Lagos residents want court to stop govt from demolition

    THE people of Badia East, a slum community in Lagos, have urged a Lagos High Court, Igbosere, to order the state government to stop the demolition of the community.

    The matter, which was stalled last week following the absence of the trial judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye, will be heard today.

    Joint in the suit are the state’s Attorney-General; Ministries of Physical Planning, Environment, Agriculture and Housing.

    Others include the state Physical Planning and Development Authority; Environmental and Special Offences; Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences; Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Agency; Bayo Suleiman (SP); Ojora of Lagos, Chief Abdul Aromire; and Baale Lucas Medunoye.

    In a motion on notice filed by Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC), on behalf of the people, the applicants sought an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the state government and its agents from demolishing their homes, businesses or facilities located in the community pending the determination of the substantive suit.

    They also prayed the court to restrain the government from developing or making use of any lands cleared by way of demolition at the community, as well as an order restraining Aromire, who is the 12th respondent in the suit, from receiving any payment or other consideration from the state government in exchange for the purported transfer of lands within Badia East.

    Lagos on February 23, demolished part of the Ijora-Badia slum community to pave way for the actualisation of the Ijora housing scheme which is estimated to have about 1,008 housing units, as well as to accomplish the first phase of the state’s light rail project from Iganmu to Marina.

    However, the demolition of the slum community has generated a lot of dust and attracted the attention of international communities such that the matter formed part of issues discussed at Britain’s House of Lords on March 11.

    The British parliament noted that while they support development to improve the living standards of a local population, such exercise should respect the local people’s human rights and should only take place after due consultations with the people.

    Moreover, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), recently sent a delegation from Abuja to carryout field investigation on the demolition of the community.