A former official of a local council in Akwa Ibom State said his family lost millions of naira after the chairperson of the council allegedly ordered the demolition of his building.
The official, Uduak Akpan, a former supervisor for health in Oruk Anam Local Government Area, is accusing the council Chairperson, Festus Sunday, of demolishing his building at Aya Obio Akpa.
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He told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that the demolished building had housed six shops, where his wife used to sell goods.
Video of demolished building
A Facebook user posted a video of Mr Akpan speaking to people at the scene of the demolished building.
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“I am the owner of this land. I bought it from my relative in 2012,” he said in the video, while pointing at a building, which he said is the constituency office of a lawmaker representing the area in the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly.
“My residential house is behind the constituency office. I built these lock-up shops and opened them for business in 2014.
“These shops, six lock-up shops, I built them last month,” he said, referring to the demolished building.
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In the video, Mr Akpan said a group of boys came to him around 3 p.m. on 1 July, telling him that someone sent them to demolish the building.
“I asked them to go, and not take the law into their own hands. But in the early hours of 2 July, around 1 a.m., they came and demolished the building. I built this house from the foundation to the roofing, and nobody issued a notice. I came in the morning to see this house demolished,” he said in the video.
“As a law-abiding citizen, I didn’t want to take the law into my hands, so I reported the incident to the police for investigation,” he said in the Facebook video.
Mr Akpan said in the video that the police made some arrests, and that the suspects told the police they demolished the building on the order of the council chairperson.
“I am appealing to the state government to investigate this case and ensure justice is done,” he said.
In the video, food items, including beans and cartons of beverages, are scattered on the floor.
“I got a loan for my wife to invest in this business, I don’t know how my wife is going to recover this money and pay back the loan,” he said in the video.
“Look at all these items that have been destroyed. All the items that have been soaked by water,” he said, pointing at several cartons of items.
“Currently, my wife has no business, and how we are going to survive with children is very difficult,” he lamented.
“I want the state government to investigate why my building was demolished. All I am asking for is justice.”
Mr Akpan told PREMIUM TIMES he has no “personal issue” with the council chairperson and that he had no stop-work notice from the government while he was building the now-demolished shop.
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“The building is not close to the road, and there are other buildings close to the demolished property,” he told this newspaper when pressed on why only his building was demolished in the area, as he claimed.
He said goods worth millions of naira have been destroyed because of the demolition.
When contacted, the chairperson of Oruk Anam, Mr Sunday, told PREMIUM TIMES the allegation that he demolished the building was “politically motivated” and declined further comments on the matter.
When contacted, the police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom, Timfon John, confirmed the arrest of suspects and added that the police were still investigating the incident.
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