Ogun govt clarifies reason for demolition of former Gov Daniel wife’s shopping plaza

Olufunke Daniel, wife of the former governor, owned a plaza that has been demolished, but the Ogun State administration has made it clear that there are no political reasons for this.

This was clarified at a press conference held on Monday in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Abimbola Abiodun, the state’s permanent secretary for physical and urban development, claimed that the state’s laws and regulatory enactments governed development permits inside the state.

“On the demolition of the Dutkam plaza matter owned by the wife of the former governor, Gbenga Daniel, we have carried out our due diligence and we as a ministry, we deal with records, not personalities.

“Hence, we have on record that statutory enforcement has been effected as and when due, some of these enforcements took place some years back.

Read Also: Ogun demolishes ex-Gov Gbenga Daniel wife’s shopping plaza

“However, in recent times, when we looked at the haphazard ways of development within the state, we launched an enforcement arrangement, whereby we structured ourselves to go to different zones, and started with Ijebu-Ode.

“On August 1, 2023, we touched 10 sites, of which this was part of them, after a few days we realised some of the sites we had earlier gone to seal, the seals were broken and people continued working.

“We launched enforcement, and two important personalities were apprehended, we never knew because we deal with records, not personalities.

“Thereafter, they paid the penalty fees for breaking the law and unsealing, but over time we discovered that they continued working despite sealing.”

According to him, going by the laws of the state, several contravention notices, stop work notices, and seal notices were served since last year, and later in October 2022, a demolition notice was served, but were not complied with.

He added,” We served several contravention notices despite the fact that the demolition notice was served last year, they continued working, so we had to reseal again. When it was August 31, I had to personally go there when I was told that they refused to comply with the order.

“I requested everyone to come out, resealed, and locked it with a padlock. It was when the issue of demolition came that we started hearing the names of the owners of the demolished structures. It was never an issue of political witch-hunt, but purely professional and service matters.

“The very application on Dutkam Plaza was brought for assessment and permit in 2009, and from our records, the process commenced but was inconclusive.

“Ordinarily, whenever we approve any application, there is always a very big stamp on the front page and several signatures, but going through the file, I could see the beginning of the process but not the end, they signed in, but it was not signed as collected, hence there is no prove that I have that it was approved.

“In addition, the law says whoever is doing a project that is commercial or industrial, must come with a traffic impact assessment test. Where we have issues is that every contravention notice served was not complied with and we had to enforce the necessary laws.”

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