There was tension in Ilorin, Kwara State Capital, yesterday over the demolition of the house of the Second Republic Senate Leader, the late Abubakar Olusola Saraki.
Officials of the state government had in the wee hours of yesterday demolished the house, popularly known as Ile Arugbo (old people’s home), located along the Ilofa Road, GRA, Ilorin.
Residents of Ilorin, in groups, were sighted discussing the issue.
There had been series of protests by aged women and other Saraki’s supporters who usually met on Thursdays and Fridays for prayers at the house.
Supporters and loyalists of Bukola Saraki, who is the immediate past Senate president and son of the late Kwara politician, were yesterday milling round the demolished building, chanting solidarity songs and praising him.
The state government had said the land on which the house was built was illegally acquired, but the former Senate president had countered the claim, saying his father legally acquired the land.
The State Commissioner for Communications, Murtala Olanrewaju, in a statement yesterday, explained that the demolition exercise, which was a physical reclamation of the plot of land bordering the civil service clinic in Ilorin, began in the early hours to avoid any needless confrontation.
The commissioner denied that the state government was served court papers on the matter.
He urged the people of the state to remain calm, peaceful and be guided only by facts of the matter and “not be drawn into emotional outburst that is targeted at distracting the public from the issues at stake.
“While the administration is focused on restoring sanity to the state after years of barefaced impunity, we will do so within the limit of the law.”
It was gathered that some residents of Ilorin had earlier planned to stage a protest against the exercise.
The chairman of the People’s Democratic Party in the state, Engr Kola Shittu and members of the party’s executive were at the demolished building.
Shittu condemned the state government’s action, saying the government should have tarried a while since the matter had become a subject of litigation.
Some women announced their resolve to march to the palace of the Emir of Ilorin in protest against the demolition exercise.
The daughter of the late Kwara politician and Minister of State for Transportation, Gbemisola Saraki, in her veiled condemnation of the demolition of her father’s house, said she was proud of the history of her family.
Reacting through a statement yesterday the chairman of the Saraki Legacy Forum, the family, Bibire Ajape, the family condemned the demolition of the building and urged Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to “stop escalating tension in the state.”
Ajape noted that following the announcement by the governor that he had revoked the title on the land which had been rightfully possessed by late Saraki for more than 20 years, the family filed a case at the High Court, Ilorin, on December 31, 2019, challenging the action.
He alleged that the government demolished the property to undermine and frustrate the judicial process. DT
