DESPITE an injunction of an Oyo State High Court
restraining the government of Sen. Abiola Ajimobi, some agents of the
government yesterday demolished the Celestial Church of Christ, Onala Parish
along Mokola-Sango Road, Ibadan and arrested the Head of the church as well as
nine other members.
The action was part of the ongoing demolition of structures, shops and markets by the government in continuation of its beautification exercise.
Though the Ministry of Physical Planning and other relevant depart-ments had been served with the court order, government officials led by a detachment of sol-diers and armed mobile policemen stormed the church around 10.00 a.m. yesterday with government’s bulldozer and destroyed the structures, in spite of the entreaties by the Shepherd in charge, Evan. Kolawole Olakanmi and other sen-ior members of the church.
Olakanmi, while speaking with the Niger-ian Compass on Sunday at the Secretariat Police Station, where he was detained alongside the nine others, said "I showed them the copy of the court injunction, but their leader told me that the order they had was from the Governor.
"He even told me that the order of the Gover-nor supersedes any in-junction; and in the process, I was ordered to be taken into their vehi-cle and locked up before my other members were also arrested and brought here without any charge", he said.
A copy of the court order made available to the Nigerian Compass on Sunday, restraining the government from taking any action pend-ing the determination of the suit filed by the church was dated 28th November, 2012 and is-sued by Justice O.I. Aiki of the Ibadan High Court 14 sitting at MKO Abi-ola Way (former Ring Road).
The order followed an Enrolment of Order in Suit No.I/1144/2012 filed by the Shepherd of
Kolawole Olakanmi and on behalf of the Church.
The state government had through a demolition notice dated November 16, 2012 given the Church management three days with which "to remove the struc-ture(s) and vacate the site"; otherwise, "the Ministry shall enforce the removal and com-mence legal action against the Church" by the enabling Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development.
In his narration, Olakanmi said the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) Onala Parish, be-hind Forestry Fence, Mokola-Sango Road, Ibadan had been on the site since 2005 and had been paying annual rent on the land until his ap-plication for lease, which was almost approved be-fore the expiration of the past administration of Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala.
When the Nigerian Compass on Sunday vis-ited the church yester-day, parts of it were in ruins, with some wor-shipers watching over the displaced Church's property.
According to a female member of the church, "Ajimobi did not see this place to be acquired to build a filling station until now that the Shep-herd had almost sunk about N15m filling up the valley here to make the environment habit-able. They told us he wants to build a filling station here. We don’t know whether he wants it for himself or the gov-ernment. This is quite in-human", she lamented.
All efforts to seek government’s clarification proved abortive as the aide of the Commissioner in charge of the Ministry, Kafayat Adeojo, said she was not around and that she did not receive visitors on Fridays.
All explanations made to seek the government's defense through the Commissioner proved abortive, as she insisted that the reporter should come back on Tuesday, one of her visiting days.
As at the time of filing this report, the Shep-hered was making fran-tic efforts to ensure his lawyer secured his re-lease from the police station.
The action was part of the ongoing demolition of structures, shops and markets by the government in continuation of its beautification exercise.
Though the Ministry of Physical Planning and other relevant depart-ments had been served with the court order, government officials led by a detachment of sol-diers and armed mobile policemen stormed the church around 10.00 a.m. yesterday with government’s bulldozer and destroyed the structures, in spite of the entreaties by the Shepherd in charge, Evan. Kolawole Olakanmi and other sen-ior members of the church.
Olakanmi, while speaking with the Niger-ian Compass on Sunday at the Secretariat Police Station, where he was detained alongside the nine others, said "I showed them the copy of the court injunction, but their leader told me that the order they had was from the Governor.
"He even told me that the order of the Gover-nor supersedes any in-junction; and in the process, I was ordered to be taken into their vehi-cle and locked up before my other members were also arrested and brought here without any charge", he said.
A copy of the court order made available to the Nigerian Compass on Sunday, restraining the government from taking any action pend-ing the determination of the suit filed by the church was dated 28th November, 2012 and is-sued by Justice O.I. Aiki of the Ibadan High Court 14 sitting at MKO Abi-ola Way (former Ring Road).
The order followed an Enrolment of Order in Suit No.I/1144/2012 filed by the Shepherd of
Kolawole Olakanmi and on behalf of the Church.
The state government had through a demolition notice dated November 16, 2012 given the Church management three days with which "to remove the struc-ture(s) and vacate the site"; otherwise, "the Ministry shall enforce the removal and com-mence legal action against the Church" by the enabling Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development.
In his narration, Olakanmi said the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) Onala Parish, be-hind Forestry Fence, Mokola-Sango Road, Ibadan had been on the site since 2005 and had been paying annual rent on the land until his ap-plication for lease, which was almost approved be-fore the expiration of the past administration of Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala.
When the Nigerian Compass on Sunday vis-ited the church yester-day, parts of it were in ruins, with some wor-shipers watching over the displaced Church's property.
According to a female member of the church, "Ajimobi did not see this place to be acquired to build a filling station until now that the Shep-herd had almost sunk about N15m filling up the valley here to make the environment habit-able. They told us he wants to build a filling station here. We don’t know whether he wants it for himself or the gov-ernment. This is quite in-human", she lamented.
All efforts to seek government’s clarification proved abortive as the aide of the Commissioner in charge of the Ministry, Kafayat Adeojo, said she was not around and that she did not receive visitors on Fridays.
All explanations made to seek the government's defense through the Commissioner proved abortive, as she insisted that the reporter should come back on Tuesday, one of her visiting days.
As at the time of filing this report, the Shep-hered was making fran-tic efforts to ensure his lawyer secured his re-lease from the police station.
Compass
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