A battle of words ensued, on Tuesday, between Kwara State Governor, AbdulRaman AbdulRazaq, and his predecessor, Dr Bukola Saraki, following Sunday demolition of Crystal Place shopping complex owned by a former member of the House of Representatives, Moshood Mustapha, in Ilorin, Kwara state capital.
The Kwara state Government, through the Kwara state Geographic Information Service, had in a statement signed by its chairman, Sulyman Andulkareem, on Sunday, said the demolished building violated the government’s approval for the land.
“We are removing the Crystal corner shops because new findings show clearly that the owner grossly violates government’s land use approval issued to the owner on March 22, 2013.
“The approval was for the purpose of a commercial car park only,” the agency said.
Mustapha, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, is an ally of Saraki.
Governor AbdulRazaq, in a statement by his Chief Press secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, said, “The urban renewal programme of the AbdulRazaq administration, which includes restoring or upgrading the original plan of the capital city as much as possible to fit the current realities, was long overdue.
“It is what a responsible government should have done many years ago when the first Ilorin master plan expired in the early 2000.
“The chaotic and unplanned slum that our great capital city had become until recently is a dirty relic of the Bukola Saraki years when just anyone in the corridors of powers or their cronies could patch on any available land to erect structures with scant regard for any urban planning code.
“The result is the environmental disaster seen in many parts of Ilorin and environs and its consequences for lives and properties.
“Restoring sanity in a growing capital city like Ilorin requires courageous leadership that will not be stonewalled by the blackmail of the likes of Saraki. The urban renewal of Governor Abdulrazaq is being done with full regard for the law, pragmatic empathy, and our context as a people – just as we saw in the years of the late Major General George Innih who took Ilorin to the next level in urban renewal and physical development.”
Reacting to the development, Saraki said he had to break his silence after what he described as the wave of demolition exercise in the state.
Saraki claimed that the action of the government, in demolishing the building, smacked of “pettiness on the part of the governor and his government and aimed to intimidate, suppress and silence all Kwarans.”
In a statement he personally signed on Monday, Saraki said: “Ordinarily, some people would expect that I would be indifferent to the weekend demolition of the Crystal Place, a shopping mall on Sulu Gambari Road in Ilorin, ordered by the government of Kwara State, because of the political relationship between me and the owner, Honourable Moshood Mustapha, who after serving as my commissioner, Special Adviser and House of Representatives member under the platform of our party defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and has worked against our structure since 2018.
“However, it is not my style to take positions on issues from the narrow, parochial perspective. It is my view that one should always look at the big picture, a broad perspective of any issue in reacting to it. It is violence against the people of Kwara State and the economy of the state.
“My decision to speak out against this action that reflects the pettiness of the governor and his government, which is anti-people, and against the economic development of the state is irrespective of who is involved.
“The State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is using this demolition exercise to intimidate, suppress, and silence all Kwarans. It is his reaction to the growing unpopularity of everything that he represents within the state.
Saraki said: “Why is Abdulrazaq just realising the fault or whatever he interprets to be wrong with the building of the Crystal Mall structure after 64 months that he has been in office?
“The Kwara State Governor is ordering this demolition as his response in the aftermath of the recently conducted local government polls where people in all the constituencies massively voted and rose against his party and its candidates, even when he malevolently, fraudulently, and maliciously got contrary results to be declared by his hand-picked electoral officials.
“This is the beginning of a war against Kwara State for rejecting a governor who has failed to deliver good governance on all fronts. We should recall that he has ordered the arrest of some opposition politicians on frame-up charges.
“In my view, Abdulrazaq believes unveiling a regime of violence and destruction against the people, particularly, the elite and their property will impose a culture of silence on the state. Now, the news circulating across Ilorin is that the next target of Abdulrazaq’s demolition squad is the place where the remains of my late father, Oloye (Dr.) Abubakar Olusola Saraki, of blessed memory, is interred.
“Even, this evil plan will not stop me from saying what is right. Let me make it clear that he will only try; he must be joking if he thinks he can erase the legacies left by the great Oloye.
“After all, he has just about 31 months before he becomes a former governor. Abdulrazaq is the seventh democratically elected governor. None of those before him embarked on the demolition of properties to fight political opponents or score cheap political points.
“If I or the five other elected governors before him – late Alh. Adamu Attah, Chief C. O. Adebayo, Alh. Shaba Lafiagi, late Alh. Mohammed Lawal, and Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed – had been demolishing the structures belonging to people for personal vendetta, nothing would have remained of Kwara State before he assumed office in 2019.
“Abdulrazaq should know we will not allow him to destroy the peace, tranquility, and fear of God that Ilorin, in particular, and Kwara State in general, stand for. His eight years as governor cannot reshape the history of our Emirate and the State that has been in existence for over 50 years.
“With this demolition of Crystal Mall, over one hundred youths who work there have lost their jobs and source of livelihood. Also, the 21 shop owners in that complex have lost their investment. What a loss to the state economy! At a time when people are facing hardship and there are no jobs, the focus of government should not be to destroy investment. The emphasis should be on how to grow the economy, help the private sector increase its investment in the state, generate employment, and make life better for ordinary people. These are key aspects of the basic functions of a government that has a purpose.
“What the present government in Kwara State is doing is waging war against the people. It is bent on impoverishing the people. We should not be afraid to speak truth to power.”
