The Ogun State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development has allegedly demolished numerous residences, including a Celestial Church of Christ in Kajola, in the Mowe-Ibafo region of the state.
On Thursday, November 24, ministry officials were claimed to have invaded the village in a bus and a pick-up vehicle.InformationGuideNigeria
They were also alleged to have arrived with the assistance of ten mobile police officers, who provided cover for them during the operation.JAMB portal
According to Emmanuel Adeyeye, the son of the church’s spiritual leader, they were not allowed to remove their belongings before the demolition began.
He said, “We saw 10 policemen and five officials of the Ogun State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development come around 11am without prior notice. They arrived in one white Toyota Hiace bus and a van. One of them approached us and asked us to vacate the church premises that they came to demolish the building. I told them we did not get any notice, but they did not reply to me before they started to demolish the structure. They first demolished two houses beside us before they demolished our church. We were not allowed to move anything out of the church.
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“After demolishing our church, they moved to the Chinese company beside our church, but the workers and management of the company did not allow them to continue the demolition. They started the demolition at 11am and ended it by 1pm.”
The Shepherd of the church, Saka Adeyeye, said he was not at home when the demolition started.
The community leader, Taiwo Atanda, who claimed to have sold the land to the residents, said the ministry demolished the buildings because of his inability to pay a bribe of N1.5m.
He said, “The officials came in October to demolish the structures, but we did not allow them. They left that day. So, I went to their office at Abeokuta and I was told by one of the officials to pay N1.5m if I did not want them to demolish the houses. I told them to be patient, until they came to demolish the place because I was not around. Their plan is to give five hectares of land in the area to an influential person who approached them. We were told that the land was allocated to him in 2008, but we documented our survey in 2006 and we have repeatedly checked it and there is no indication that the place was allocated.”
Waheed Odusile, state information commissioner, stated that he was driving.NYSC Portal
After unsuccessful attempts to reach him, he did not answer his calls.
As of the time these complaints were filed, he had not responded to a text message that had been sent to him.
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