The Ogun State government, on Sunday, said DATKEM Plaza, Ijebu Ode, is an illegal structure without an approved plan.
DATKEM Plaza is owned by Olufunke Daniel, the wife of former governor Gbenga Daniel.
The government also maintained that the structure contravened the State’s physical planning laws.
The disclosure was contained in a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Olayiwola Abiodun.
Abiodun noted that the structure violated the building codes of the State with numerous defects.
He said several efforts made by the government to halt further development on site were ignored by the developers.
He said that government officials had requested the structural engineer responsible for the building to provide the assessment of the building’s structural stability, but the request was disregarded.
The statement recalled the various incidences of building disasters across the country, adding that the Ogun State government will not fold its arms and allow such a tragedy to occur in its territory.
It pointed out that disasters such as fire outbreaks at Ikorodu, led to the loss of precious lives.
According to the permanent secretary, what the government did in partially pulling down the defective building is to avert tragedy.
Abiodun, however, challenged the owners of the structure to produce evidence of government approval in their possession.
He said that for a commercial building of that status, there must be parking space to accommodate vehicular traffic within and outside the facility for workers and visitors, saying that the provision of the law is for 45 to 50 per cent of available land for construction as a buildable area.
The permanent secretary added that the building lacks stage certification, which is usually issued at every stage of construction.
He insisted that owners were served the necessary notices, including abatement, contravention, stop work and demolition between May and October 2022, which were ignored.
According to the statement, DATKEM Enterprises Limited submitted an application for an office building, located along Ibadan Road, Ijebu Ode in 2009 with registration number CB/05/299/2009
He said: “The proposal was for five (5) floors with an airspace of 3 metres at the right, 5m at the left, 5metres at the rear and a setback of 32.5516 metres to the middle of Ijebu Ode/Ibadan road, Ijebu-Ode.
“The Zonal Town Planning Office observed during routine monitoring that the construction on site did not conform to the plan granted as there was a deviation from the airspaces and setback.
But former Governor Gbenga Daniel described the demolition of his wife’s property as an act of executive recklessness, lawlessness and irresponsibility.
Daniel made the declaration through a statement issued in Abeokuta by his lawyer, Mr. Adeyinka Kotote (SAN).
Agents of the Ogun government, in the early hours of Sunday, demolished DATKEM plaza in Ijebu Ode belonging to a former first lady of the state, Olufunke Daniel.
According to the statement, the legal firm expressed shocked and miffed that the state government ignored court papers served on its agents on Thursday, September 7, asking them to stop all actions on the building.
“This matter began when the Ogun State Planning and Development Authority sealed the building on August 1 without any prior notice.
“Interestingly, a quit notice was only served on August 31, by the same Planning and Development Authority asking the owner to vacate the premises within three days.
“DATKEM applied for unsealing and regularisation of the building on August 2 and paid the mandatory fee of N500, 000 to the Ogun state government. We have evidence of this payment.
”However, we were shocked and astonished that the Ogun state government ignored the ongoing legal process and went ahead to demolish the complex in the early hours of Sunday. We want to believe the State Attorney General’s advice was ignored on this matter.
“Our clients, as law abiding citizens of Ogun state, will continue to seek redress in the courts. Even when our clients have suffered unimaginable and huge losses as a result of this illegal demolition, we will not relent in pursuing justice in the courts,” he said.
He added that he believed Governor Dapo Abiodun was not informed of the illegality.
“But if he was informed and still decided to use the instruments of the state against our clients, it is nothing but executive recklessness. But we will continue to fight for justice and ensure that our clients,” the statement added.