Demolition: Affected residents accuse Fayose of not paying them compensation

Residents of the Ijoka community in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, have sought the assistance of the state government on compensation on the alleged demolition of their houses by the administration of former governor, Ayodele Fayose. Making the appeal yesterday during a courtesy call on the Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, the aggrieved residents, led […]

Residents of the Ijoka community in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, have sought the assistance of the state government on compensation on the alleged demolition of their houses by the administration of former governor, Ayodele Fayose.

Making the appeal yesterday during a courtesy call on the Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, the aggrieved residents, led by the Elejoka, Chief Lawrence Omodara, accused Fayose of turning residents of the community to refugees in their own land by demolishing their ancestral homes.

Omodara claimed that the demolition of traditional sites along with those houses was having a negative effect on their customs and traditions.

The residents also accused the former governor of demolishing their houses without prior notice and without paying majority of them any compensation, while the few compensated were given peanuts not up to the value of the structures pulled down.

The community leaders said some of the house owners died as a result of their inability to recover from the shock that resulted from the demolition.

One of the leaders, Mr Joseph Fagbuaro, said Fayose gave them several appointments to meet on the issue of compensation but did not honour them until the expiration of his tenure.

Fagbuaro said, “Truly what happened to us in Ijoka in the last administration was not proper. It was about 5pm that Fayose started demolishing our houses, destroying our properties and our ancestral homes where we used to perform traditional rites during some festivals in Ado Ekiti, without notifying us and without discussing with anyone what he wanted to use the houses or the land to do.

“We plead for the intervention of the state government. We want the restoration of our ancestral home. We don’t want our community to vanish like that and we want our people to be properly compensated as well.”

Responding, the deputy governor, who expressed surprise over the claim that majority of the people whose houses were demolished had not been compensated, assured them that the government would investigate the matter, but appealed to them to be patient.