The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State has condemned the “wanton, unwholesome” demolition of properties belonging to some citizens of the state by the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki describing it as “sacrilegious.”
Recall that the Obaseki-led adminstration yesterday evening demolished property belonging to immediate past deputy governor of the state, Dr. Pius Odubu, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, member representating Owan at the House of Representatives and also a former Secretary to the State Government, and Mr Mike Etemuagbon, a sports enthusiast,
all citizens of the state.
The APC, while condemning the demolition in a statement signed by the state Publicity Secretary, Chris Azebamwan, described the act as a bid to “intimidate, suppress, hound, crush and silence his perceived enemies.”
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Azebamwan, while disclosing that the Governor earlier revoked the Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) of the said properties and the matter was taken to court, noted that it was wrong to go ahead with the demolition.
“No doubt, it is part of the governor’s ‘Make Edo State Great Again’ agenda to regularly and wilfully demolish properties belonging to perceived opponents, and dissenting or critical voices in the state, in the bid to foist a siege mentality on the citizenry.
“It is on record that Governor Obaseki had earlier this year revoked the Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) of the various properties, but the demolition carried out while the case is in court, is unacceptable because it amounts to a subversion of the rule of law.
“The proper thing is for the state government to wait for the outcome of the court process but apparently because it knew that it was pursuing an illegal agenda, it demolished the properties,” he said.
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The APC, while rejecting what its tagged as “constant invasion of citizen’s privacy and demolition of their properties, described the act as not “only wicked, but cowardly; a direct recipe for crisis in our state.”
The party while urging Obaseki “to perish the idea of trying to use false claims and propaganda to justify this wicked act” further caution against future action in this guise.
“We caution against future action in this guise, because it is borne out of hatred and political intolerance in furtherance of the larger plot by the PDP and its administration to destroy the fabric that binds Edo people, and eventually overheat the polity.
“We dismiss the latterday reasons given by the Edo state government as dastardly, baseless, false and incongruous, because they fail to justify the unwarranted invasion, harassment of these innocent citizens who once served the state meritoriously, and demolition of their properties.
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“Edo people know how that the PDP and its government is unduly hounding, harassing and demolishing properties of citizens for daring to be among compatriots at the forefront of the quest to rescue our State from misrule and strangleholds of a cabal, that do not mean well for the people,” he said.