By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Contrary to its earlier claim that Asher Kings and Queens Restaurant was demolished because it was the purported venue of a botched sex party, Kaduna State government on Tuesday recanted, this time claiming that the building was brought down because it had no valid title.
Officials of the Nasir el-Rufai-led government claimed that “government records show that the building housing Asher restaurant had neither a valid title nor development permit.”
The building was located in Sabon Tasha area of Chikun Local Government.
The Director-General of the Kaduna State Urban Development and Planning Authority (KASUPDA), Ismail Umar-Dikko, made the explanation at a press conference in the state capital.
He stated that the decision to demolish the property on December 31, 2020, was in line with the laws and regulations of the state on any property that was in violation of its provisions.
Umar-Dikko added that the alleged illegal status of the building became a very separate matter from the purported trigger event, the third-party elements who had planned and advertised an unlawful gathering at the restaurant.
He stated that by virtue of various land administration and development control initiatives conceived and implemented in the last five years, there was no excuse for anyone in Kaduna State to remain without a valid title to their property and permits for any development thereon.
The KASUPDA boss insisted that those who have chosen to remain in violation and have shunned opportunities to regularise their status cannot argue from sentiment when enforcement actions were taken.
But the owner of the demolished building, Mrs Aisha Yakubu, had denied plans to hold a sex party at the restaurant and threatened to seek legal redress over the action of the government.
She told Channels Television on Sunday that the demolished building was neither a hotel nor a guest house, and was never intended to be used for a sex party as was claimed by the police.
Yakubu had also asked the government to compensate her, saying she was not given any prior notice by KASUPDA before the demolition of her restaurant.
She lamented that the trauma she went through during the period of the demolition made her lose her one-month pregnancy.