Damaged Jinsam property: LG boss debunks Hausa community's claim

The Caretaker Chairman of Obafemi/Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Mr Jamiu Balogun, has reacted to an allegation of the Hausa community at Kara-Ibafo that he led suspected hoodlums to an area on 19 April, 2012, to demolish the fence of a property said to have cost N5 million to construct.The said property, situated at Plot 1, Block 'A' Scheme 2, OPIC Estate, Kara-Ibafo, was said to be owned by a northerner and had served as accommodation facility to many Hausa at Kara-Ibafo until recently.But in a swift reaction, the caretaker chairman said the property belonged to the council and he had the backing of the state governor to embark on the demolition.Speaking through one of his aides who refused to give his identity on phone, the chairman, said the land actually belonged to the council and that the governor had approved the plan to use the land to construct an ultra-modern shopping complex.The Hausa community at Kara-Ibafo had in a bid to avert ethno-communal conflict within the state, petitioned the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, over the demolition of a property allegedly belonging to Jinsam Nigeria Limited.The petition, which urged the governor to call the Caretaker Chairman, Obafemi/Owode Local Government area, Mr Jamiu Balogun, to order, was also copied House of Representatives Speaker Ibrahim Tambuwal, Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa, Ogun State Commissioner of Police, the Area Commander, Ibafo and the Divisional Police Officer(DPO), Ibafo.In the petition, signed by lawyers from Ezogie Chambers, it was alleged that the Caretaker Chairman, Obafemi/Owode Local Government area, Mr Jamiu Balogun, led suspected hoodlums to the area on 19 April, 2012 to demolish the fence of the property said to have cost N5 million to construct.'Your Excellency, while a copy of this petition was pending before the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Ibafo Police Station on the 24th April 2012 and a meeting arranged between the petitioner, the chairman and representatives of the Hausa community, the chairman ordered a bulldozer to demolish the entire fence of our client's property under police cover from Ibafo Police Station, where a petition was pending before the DPO.'When the DPO was contacted on phone about the demolition exercise, he replied that he was helpless that he was going to withdraw his men from the scene,' the petition read in parts.It added that the incident had generated tension among Hausa community in Kara-Ibafo as they viewed the development 'as 'Yoruba destroying Northerners' properties' because Jinsam is owned by a Northerner and the entire Kara-Ibafo is mostly populated by northerners.
Click here to read full news..