Kwara Governor demolishes Saraki's home in Ilorin

The political home of the Sarakis was brought down because it violated usage laws, according to the Kwara State government.

Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has had his home in Kwara torn down (NASS)

The Kwara state government has brought down the political home of the Sarakis in Illorin, the state capital, for "flagrant abuse of the allocation terms."

The home is called the ‘Ile Arúgbó’. 

According to TheCable, the home was demolished in the early hours of Thursday, January 2, 2020 after security operatives dispersed protesters, including aged women, from within the complex.

The state government had fixed midnight for the demolition exercise to avoid a clash with Saraki’s loyalists who had been keeping watch on the complex, the report adds. 

Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, had last month announced his decision to revoke the late Olusola Saraki’s property because it was illegally acquired. 

AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Governor of Kwara State (The Guardian) 

 

Razaq said the land was originally designated for the construction of a secretariat and parking lot of the civil service clinic, but that it was unlawfully allocated to a private firm — Asa Investments Limited — without any record of payment to the state government.

However, Bukola Saraki, Nigeria’s former senate president who also served as Governor of Kwara from 2003 to 2011, said his late father lawfully acquired the parcel of land from the state government.

“The property had been rightfully allocated to my late father under the name of one of his companies, Asa Investment Limited, since the 1980s and contrary to the claim of the governor, the land was properly allocated and a Right of Occupancy title issued on it,” Saraki said.

Saraki also said revoking the land is an act of vengeance from the state governor. “It should be noted that the excuse given by Abdulrazaq in his revocation order holds no water since it is clear that this is the height of his vengeance against my father, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki and I.

“This action is clearly a manifestation of vengeance … in his narrow-mindedness, he believes his victory at the polls is an empowerment, entitlement and enablement to settle scores, provoke and pursue inter-family rivalry. They expected development and fulfilment of promises.”

Current Kwara Governor Razaq is a member of the APC, the political party which controls the center in Nigeria. Saraki defected from the APC to the opposition PDP in 2018 and lost his re-election bid to the senate afterwards. 

He alleged political persecution before his defection to the PDP.