A day after a court dismissed a suit challenging its demolition of Ile Arugbo, a property used by the late political kingmaker of Kwara state, Olusola Saraki, to host his supporters, the state government on Wednesday resumed clearing of the disputed land on which the property is sited.
The state government demolished the property in 2020, claiming the land on which it was built was illegally acquired. It said the land was originally designated for the construction of the second phase of the state secretariat.
Children of Mr Saraki, Bukola and Gbemisola, accused Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, whose election in 2019 ended the Saraki’s 20 years of unbroken control of government in the state, of trying to destroy their father’s legacy.
Afterwards, Asa Investment Ltd, a firm owned by the late politician, claimed ownership of the land and sued the state government to assert its ownership and seek redress for the demolition of the property.
But on Tuesday, a high court judge, Abiodun Adewara, struck out the suit on the grounds of lack of diligent prosecution.
Adewara struck out the suit and adjourned till March 17 for the hearing of the defendants’ counterclaim.
Meanwhile, in the early hours of Wednesday, witnesses told our reporter that the government sent a bulldozer between 2 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. to clear the land.
Reacting to the fresh development, the legal team of Asa Investments Ltd described it as “reckless, illegal and glaring impunity.”
In a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, the lead counsel, Akin Onigbinde, said he was surprised that the state government took its action less than 24 hours after the court fixed March 27 for hearing of its counterclaim.
“Counsel to the government of Kwara state, on record of court at previous sittings of court, had given an undertaking not to destroy the property until the dispute is determined.
“It was also surprising that on a single day, the court granted an application to Asa to substitute the name of Alhaji Sanusi Baba-Eleku, a co-claimant with Asa Investment Ltd who died recently with another, being Alhaji Abubakar Oluwatoyin, and before allowing the new party to file his witness statement on oath as required by law, the court struck out the case of Asa Investment Ltd without allowing the new party the opportunity to even put forward his case to court for adjudication, and Kwara state government overreached judicial process to further destroy the property during the pendency of hearing.”