Demolition of property has ended on Ibadan Circular Road corridor – Makinde

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has assured residents affected by the Ibadan Circular Road corridor that no further demolition of houses and property would be done on the corridor.

He said existing structures within the 150metres corridor would be integrated in the plans of the government.

The governor, however, warned that no further development in terms of laying of founding and erecting of buildings should be done on any land within the corridor.

He spoke yesterday while addressing thousands of the affected residents, who stormed Oyo State Government Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan in protest.

The protesters carried placards, banners and sang appeal songs to plead for the stoppage of the 500meters corridor on each side of the Ibadan Circular Road by the government.

The Nation reports that the protesters marched on the secretariat for three consecutive days last week and vowed to continue on Monday (yesterday) and would not stop until they were addressed by Governor Makinde.

Addressing the protesters, the governor praised them for being orderly and coordinated in their approach.

He said the government of the day was put in place by the people and not by any godfather, hence the need to always listen to the people ‘’since the government is theirs.’’

Makinde told the people that the 500meters corridor on both sides of the road was not his doing, but that of past administrations, adding that many people never believed that the project would see the light of the day.

He warned them not to fall for the antics of those who would want to play politics with everything by pushing them to go against the government.

Assuring the people that no house on the corridor would be demolished, but would rather be integrated in the plan, the governor said enumeration of existing structures would be done jointly by the leadership of the affected residents and government.

He said land with no structures on them as at the time of the meeting must not be seen with new structures.

Speaking later with reporters after the meeting, Governor Makinde said there were a lot of misinformation and misconceptions about the corridor.

He said: “What I told them was that this is their government. We are not here because of any godfather, but because the people of Oyo State were the ones who put this administration in place.

“I think there has been a lot of misconception, misinformation on the matter. What they told me was that they want the circular road, but they don’t want the corridor and I said yes.

“We must plan. The corridor they talked about, 500meters to the right, 500meters to the left, this administration did not bring that on board. It was the previous administrations.

“However, I told them, they must remain law-abiding and that anyone who has a building standing, outside of the initial 150metres, those people will be integrated. We won’t demolish any of the buildings outside of the 150metres that are already existing.

“But from now forward, don’t start laying your foundation within the corridor because we must plan that place and those that are already existing, we will integrate them.”

Reacting to the development, the coordinator of the protesters, Prince Niyi Fasoye, commended the governor for finally coming to clear the dust on the matter.