Bayelsa State Government on Wednesday demolished a one-storey
private building owned by Governor Seriake Dickson because it obstructed the
Right-of-Way as well as intruding on the state Capital City Master
Plan. .
The demolished building, which had been marked by the Capital
City Development Authority on June 28, 2012, was situated along the Opolo/AIT
Road, Yenagoa, the state capital.
The demolition, which began about 12.48 pm, was supervised by
the Deputy Governor John Jonah; Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr.
Lawrence Ehwrudjakpor; Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr.
Markson Fefegha; Commissioner for State Capital City Development; and Mr.
Konugha Zuwa.
Other structures affected by the demolition exercise included
that of the Director General of the State Agency for the Control of AIDS,
Dr. Temple Iluma.
Jonah told journalists that the location of the Governor’s house
obstructed the Right-of-Way, hence there would be no compensation for him.
He said, “In line with the development control of the CCDA and
urban renewal of the state, the government awarded contract for the dualisation
of the road. Anyone who has built structures on the Right-of-Way should expect
such buildings to be demolished.
“We have been talking about the master plan as well as some
areas where we have to carry out urban renewal. For the master plan, we expect
every builder to go and get clearance before he or she starts to build to see
the extent that he can go outside the road.
“One of the houses we have found to have interfered with the
plan of Yenagoa is this one-storey structure belonging to the Governor. On the
advice of the CCDA that is concerned with development control of the state, the
house was marked since last year for demolition. And you know we have awarded
contract for the dualisation of the Opolo Road.”
However, some Yenagoa residents on Wednesday said the exercise
was politically-motivated, notwithstanding that the governor’s house was
affected.
The residents, who claimed that only a section of Dickson’s
building was demolished, said the exercise was a strategy to enable the
government to demolish buildings of perceived opponents without causing public
outrage.
None of the complaining residents however agreed to be quoted.
In his comment, Ehwrudjakpor said the demolition had been on for
some time and listed the affected areas to include Ovom, Igbogene, Imgbi,
Diete_Spiff and Eradiri road expansion.
Culled from punchng.com