Huge row over demolition of former First Lady’s N1b plaza
…They came with thugs, police at night, says aide
…Victim’s Senator-husband, Gov in same APC
…Building violated Ogun laws–Govt
…Yoruba safer under Buhari than Tinubu? asks PDP chieftain
By Abiodun Taiwo
Anger, disappointment and calm explanations hallmarked the emotions spewed yesterday following the demolition by the Ogun State Government of a prominent plaza owned by a former First Lady of the State.
The ultra-modern multi-storey edifice, named Datkem Plaza, and located in Ijebu Ode, reportedly valued at about N1billion, is owned by Yeye Olufunke Daniel, wife of a former Governor of the State, Senator Gbenga Daniel, who is the serving senator representing Ogun East.
The demolition was said to have been authorized by the State Governor, Dapo Abiodun.
Coincidentally, both Gov. Abiodun and Sen. Daniel belong to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
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The demolition, which occurred at 3:00 a.m. yesterday saw many of the fittings in the building seriously vandalized.
The edifice, located at Folagbade Street, Ijebu Ode, was set to be commissioned at the end of this month.
It was gathered, though, that the State government had issued contravention notices to contractors working on the building about four days ago, a position contested by the Daniel family.
Speaking on the sort of state-of-the-art facilities available in the plaza, the project manager, Olusegun Lawal, told The Daily Times that construction work on the building began in 2009 with full approval of relevant authorities, adding that by yesterday, several facilities were already in place on the structure.
He said: “The building boasted a ground floor and mezzanine equipped with a fully-fledged banking hall, complete with bank trap doors and a Chubb strong room.
”Other features included a Kone elevator installed by Kresta Laurel Ltd, brand new split air conditioners from Holomicool Nig Ltd, a 150kVA generator set, and a transformer.
”The plaza also had a fire-fighting system installed by Flory Ltd, with external cladding completed by Vertex Nig Ltd. Building supervision was entrusted to qualified and certified engineers, Engr. A Lawal and Engr. Ibraheem Shonde, among others.”
Lawal said some of the alleged contraventions, according to a notice by government, included inadequate parking space, inadequate muster point, and inadequate airspace.
Speaking on the developments, an aide to Sen. Gbenga Daniel, Steve Oliyide told The Daily Times that the building was not demolished, but vandalized.
Narrating his own account of how the building was impacted, Oliyide recounted that the vandalization, which lasted from 2am till 5am, was carried out by thugs allegedly loyal to Gov. Abiodun and were given police protection by one Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), whom he named as Edward Omosoyin, alongside seven armed policemen, with the entire group arriving in 20 vehicles.
Oliyide further alleged that government’s town planners refused to sign the order of demolition because it could not be justified.
He added: “Dapo Abiodun was said to be in Ijebu Ode yesterday (Friday) with Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila to see the Awujale and Paramount ruler of Ijebu land, Oba Sikiru Adetona.
“Town planners that were contacted say they don’t work at night and not even on Sunday. One of Dapo Abiodun’s thugs, Efele was said to be patrolling the area all through yesterday (Friday).
“The operation was led by ACP Edward Omosoyin with seven armed policemen in 20 vehicles and personally supervised the destruction.
“He called the DPOs that they have a special operation by 2am. The destruction was done by thugs headed by Efele and other thugs.
“So, it is logical that Dapo Abiodun’s thugs are the ones who attacked the building to enforce an illegal order and they are being protected by the Police. It is also true that the town planners who refused to sign the order because the demolition cannot be justified, were threatened and the one who collected a response letter from the builder has been placed on suspension.”
State government reacts
Reacting, the State government described the building as an illegal structure which contravened the State’s physical planning laws.
The government, in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Engr. Olayiwola Abiodun, contended that the structure had numerous defects which violated the State’s building codes.
He alleged that several efforts made by the State government to halt further development on site were ignored by the developers.
According to him, government officials requested the structural engineer in charge of the building to avail the state of the structural equilibrium of the building, a request, he said, that was ignored.
The Permanent Secretary recalled the various incidences of building disasters across the country, adding that the State Government will not fold its arms and allow such occurrence.
He noted that many of such disasters such as fire outbreaks at Ikorodu, had led to the loss of precious lives.
According to the Permanent Secretary, what the government did in ”partially pulling down” the defective building was to be proactive.
Engr. Abiodun challenged owners of the structure to produce evidence of government’s approval in their possession.
He pointed out that for a commercial building of that status, there must be parking space to accommodate vehicular traffic within and outside the facility for workers and visitors.
The provision of the law, he noted, was for 45 to 50 per cent of available land for construction as a buildable area, insisting that such was not adhered to by the Datkem Plaza developer.
The Permanent Secretary added that the building also lacked stage certification, which is usually issued at every stage of construction.
He stressed that the owners were served necessary notices including abatement, contravention, stop-work and demolition between May and October 2022, which, to him, were ignored.
According to Engr. Abiodun, Datkem Enterprises Limited submitted application for an office building, located along Ibadan Road, Ijebu Ode in 2009 with registration number CB/05/299/2009.
The statement said: “The proposal was for five (5) floors with airspace of 3 metres at the right, 5m at the left, 5 metres at the rear and a setback of 32.5516 metres to the middle of Ijebu Ode/Ibadan Road, Ijebu-Ode.
“The Zonal Town Planning Office observed during routine monitoring that the construction on site did not conform with the plan granted as there was a deviation from the airspaces and setback.
“In addition, the building had been modified and enlarged with an additional storey building at the back thereby becoming over-density.
“In view of the above, the following actions were taken:
“Contravention Notice with Serial No. 0106983 was served on 24th May 2022.
“Stop-Work Order with Serial No. 000623 was served on 24th May 2022.
“Another Stop-Work Order with Serial No. 001065 was served on 22nd July 2022 when the first notice was ignored.
“Demolition Notice with Serial No. 0007549 was served on 11th October 2022.
”Notice to seal with Serial No. 000815 was served on 4th October 2022.”
The statement noted further that despite all these notices, the developer was recalcitrant and continued with the construction work.
“This prompted the re-sealing of the site on 1st August, 2023. But the sealing did not stop the developer from further construction as work continued on the site.
“However, the developer wrote an appeal for unsealing, which was considered so as to evacuate the belongings in the premises. Thereafter, quit notice with Serial No. 0030750 was served on 31st August, 2023.
“In view of the above, since the developer had remained recalcitrant, the Zonal Town Planning Office’s recommendation for the demolition of the office building was upheld,” the statement added.
The state government reiterated its avowed commitment to ensure the safety of citizens, adding that any defective buildings in any part of the state will be demolished to safeguard the lives of the people.
But in a statement issued by Mr Adeyinka Kotoye (SAN) of Page Law Office, the legal firm representing Yeye Daniel, the lawyer said: ”We were shocked and miffed that the Ogun State government ignored court papers served on its agents on Thursday, September 7 asking
them to stop all actions on the building.
”This matter began when the Ogun State Planning and Development Authority sealed the building on August I without any prior notice.
”Interestingly, a quit notice was only served on August 31 by the same Planning
and Development Authority asking the owner to vacate the premises within three days.
“Meanwhile, Datkem applied for unsealing and regularization of the building on August 2 and paid the mandatory fee of N500,000 to the Ogun State government.
”We have evidence of this payment. However, we were shocked and astonished that the Ogun state government ignored the ongoing legal process and went ahead to demolish the complex in the early hours of Sunday.
”We want to believe the State Attorney General’s advice was ignored on this matter.
“Our clients, as law-abiding citizens of Ogun State, will continue to seek redress in the courts. Even when our clients have suffered unimaginable and huge losses as a result of
this illegal demolition, we will not relent in pursuing justice in the courts.
”I want to believe that the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, was not informed of this illegality.
”But if he was informed and still decided to use the instruments of the
State against our clients, it is nothing but executive recklessness. But we will continue to fight for justice and ensure that for our clients.”
‘Are Yoruba safe?’
A chieftain of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Segun Showunmi, weighed in on the controversy, querying Gov. Abiodun if, according to him (Showunmi:, going by recent occurrences around the governor, on a comparative basis, Yorubas were safer under the immediate past regime of former President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani man, than under their kinsman, President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking to newsmen, Showunmi said: “President Bola Tinubu, you are enabling Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State. We keep reporting him but what we see is that the more we report him, the more you pamper him with access to you.
“It was funny how he made the trip to India coming on the heels of the allegation of a Chairman of Local Government around interference with Local Government funds. Will Ogun now feel safer under President Buhari, a Daura man, than under a Yoruba man?”
Addressing Showunmi’s reaction, a senior aide to Gov. Abiodun, who pleaded for anonymity, told The Daily Times that it is unfortunate that the PDP stalwart was allegedly supporting illegality.
“Though I am not a spokesperson for Mr. President, if Sowunmi is reacting to what happened in Ijebu Ode today (yesterday), then it’s very unfortunate that he will be supporting illegality.
“It’s not Prince Dapo Abiodun that did the demolition nor was he that ordered its demolition. The Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning has been on this for so many years. Do we then sit down and allow what happened in Ikorodu and other areas like that to happen in Ogun State before action is taken?
“The law is no respecter of anybody; the lives of every resident of this State are very precious to the government, so the action by the Ministry was to forestall any calamity.”
