THE demolition of Crystal Place Mall, Ilorin, owned by former House of Representatives member, Moshood Mustapha, has raised dust in Kwara State.
The development has further widened the rift between Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Mustapha who are of same party.
The property was allegedly pulled down on Sunday night with the police providing security.
Occupiers of the complex claimed the the Kwara State Geographic Information Service (KW-GIS) served them a 3-hour vacation notice on Friday, citing violations.
But the chairman of KW-GIS, Suleiman Abdulkareem, explained that the land was originally allocated to Mustapha for a commercial car park.
“But he went on to erect a shopping mall and new findings show that the structure grossly violates the government’s land use approval issued to the owner on March 22, 2013.
“Illegal building creates obstacles for urban planning, road expansion and environmental protection which are key features of the urban renewal programme of the government”, he said.
He added that the land was originally designed as a green area where civil servants, pensioners, and members of the public relaxed at the new state secretariat complex.
The agency said tenants occupying the shops have been asked to remove their goods, adding that the ongoing urban renewal programme is in the best interest of the public.
But Mustapha in a statement by his media aide, Dr. Opeyemi Aregbesola, rejected the claim that the structure violated the original approval.
He said the approval obtained from the State Bureau of Lands in 2013 was for commercial purposes.
“The now-demolished Crystal Place was built based on the approved building plan and there was never an encroachment on government setbacks.”
“There is no need to sugar-coat it, this is pure political vendetta. Compulsory acquisition of properties by the government is not new; it can be done for overriding public interest but there are processes that should be followed.
“Evicting a landowner without any consideration for his constitutional rights smacks of political vindictiveness”, he stated.
This newspaper reports that the governor and Mustapha recently fell apart over the renovation of the N17.8 billion Kwara Hotel.
The governor revoked the contract earlier awarded to Mustapha at over N5 billion, citing lack of capacity and awarded it to Craneberge at the new amount.
Mustapha, however, said his mall was pulled down to get back at him for advising the government on the new price.
In his reaction, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, who is also a former governor of Kwara, described the action of the government of Governor Abdulrasaq Abdulraman as amounting to pettiness.
Saraki, who is the Waziri of Ilorin, noted that ordinarily, some people would expect that he should be indifferent to the demolition of the shopping mall because of the political relationship between him and the owner, Honourable Moshood Mustapha, who after serving as commissioner, Special Adviser, and House of Representatives’ member under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and has worked against PDP 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,” Saraki alleged.
He also accused the governor of using the demolition exercise to “intimidate, suppress, and silence all Kwarans,” adding: “It is his reaction to the growing unpopularity of everything that he represents within the state.
“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?”
Saraki further claimed that the governor is ordering this demolition as his response in the aftermath of the recent “local government polls, where people in all the constituencies massively voted and rose against his party and its candidates.