Ekiti averts Police, Prisons clash over demolition
From Ifedayo Sayo, Ado-Ekiti
THE prompt intervention of Governor Ayodele Fayose's Special Adviser on Lands and Housing, Dr. Bode Ajewole, prevented a bloody clash between men of the Prisons Service and some policemen in the demolition team of Ekiti State government yesterday.
The men of the Federal Prisons Service were protesting the plan by the state government to demolish some illegal structures around the Ado-Ekiti Federal Prison.
It was gathered that on arrival at the promises of the Federal Prison located along the road to the state Government House, the prison warders challenged the demolition team and stopped them from carrying out their assignment on the land.
They started throwing stones at the demolition team to prevent them from carrying out the exercise, prompting a retaliation by some officials of the state government on the team.
But after several minutes of argument and the intervention of Ajewole, the warders grudgingly allowed the illegal buildings and make-shift shops to be pulled down.
Ajewole explained that it was not befitting that make-shift shops sprang up around the State House, saying the government in its bid to make Ado-Ekiti clean would not allow illegal structures on its major roads.
He said it was disappointing that the warders could challenge his team when they had earlier been notified of the plans by the government to rid the state capital of illegal structures.
He maintained that no serious government would allow structures to spring up without complying with the laid down rules and regulations, adding that the state government was more determined to make Ado-Ekiti a beautiful town that could be called a state capital.
He said hundreds of illegal structures have been pencilled for demolition in the town, maintaining that their owners have been duly notified of the plans by the state government to pull them down.
He asked owners of illegal shops to move into the Erekesan Market where available shops would be rented out to them, saying they should not think that the government was joking with its decision to demolish illegal structures in the state capital.
Ajewole wondered why many of the illegal shops had not been vacated before now, given the long notices of about nine months issued to their owners, pointing out that nobody would be treated as a sacred cow in the bid to make the town a befitting state capital.
