By Ishaya Ibrahim
Fresh facts have emerged showing that the demolition of Datkem Plaza on September 10 by the Ogun State Government was without any grounds.
The government had claimed that DATKEM Plaza in Ijebu Ode, owned by Mrs Olufunke Daniel, wife of a former governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, violated town planning and building control laws of the state.
But correspondence exchanged between management of Datkem Enterprise and the Ogun State government, negate the claim of the government.
Besides, the company said since it was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as LAZ 083424 in 1999, it has consistently engaged the government, which knows Datkem Enterprise to be the owner of the building in question.
In a statement, the Management of Datkem Enterprise detailed its engagement with the Ogun state government since its acquisition of an old property in 2006 along Folagbade Street in Ijebu Ode. This, they did by following every legal and proper building development procedure.
By 2009, the Development Consultant of the project prepared the Architectural, Structural Engineering drawings, which were submitted along with application to the state government, through the statutory Ijebu Ode Zonal office of the Ogun State Town Planning department.
The statement added: “Appropriate development permits and approvals for reconstruction were issued and released by the Ogun State Government (OGSG) through the Town Planning department after all due statutory fees and payments were made and received.”
The statement revealed that construction works started immediately thereafter in line with the development permit issued by the government.
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“However, by 2011, construction works were suspended for logistics reasons. Kindly note: The level of construction had reached the 1st floor level before the temporary suspension of works on site.
“By 2012, the new government in Ogun State had commenced several major Road expansion projects (Tagged Ogun Standard roads) in Abeokuta, Sagamu, Ijebu Ode, Ijebu Igbo and Otta, where new Urban Renewal Development Controls were set for existing buildings affected by the road expansion project.
“In the process, all the existing setbacks of new and old construction development premises in these affected areas including DATKEM’s premises, were drastically reduced and seriously affected.
“As a matter of fact, some old building premises lost the existing little setbacks that they have to the main highway, while some lost part of the buildings to these road expansion projects,” the statement said.
According to DATKEM’s management, they also lost part of their premises and airspaces to this new Ogun Standard development initiative.
“Most of these building premises owners were never paid compensation by the Government of the day then, because the project was considered ‘compulsory compliance’ against every norm of Urban Renewal Regulation processes,” the statement noted.
Datkem’s Enterprise said by 2022, having lost some of its setbacks and airspaces and the need to modify its drawings to accommodate the new reality, through its consultants, it approached the Ogun State Government with the aim of recommencement of construction works on site.
“All necessary papers were submitted with application for regularisation in view of the reduced setbacks and airspaces caused by Govt actions on the Folagbade Road expansion which at this time, have been completed.
“It is equally worth mentioning that there are several correspondences and documents of the development project addressing the owners of the property as ‘DATKEM ENTERPRISES” or “DATKEM ENTERPRISES LTD’, interchangeably, and this sometimes on makeshift letterheads for and on behalf of the company.
“Since the only statutory ownership of the business as per the registration LAZ 083424 with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was not and never in doubt, confirmed as DATKEM ENTERPRISES with the sole proprietorship remaining with Mrs Olufunke Daniel, the consultants and other personnel noticeable errors of inserting and using DATKEM ENTERPRISES LTD on correspondences on this project, is considered as innocent mistake from both sides who used the names interchangeably.
“How can all of these ‘purported infractions’ become a serious issue for OGSG (Ogun State Government) under Gov Dapo Abiodun, except they are situated within obvious political vendetta, more so that the destruction of the said building were carried out in the dead of the night in the wee hours of Sunday, 10th Sept 2023 under heavy state security.”