The Action Democratic Party (ADP) has commended the governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi for promising to rebuild the demolished property of Dr Yinka Ayefele that houses his Fresh FM but cautioned the governor to show patience and compassion in the discharge of his functions in his remaining nine months in office.
The party in the statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lawal Akindele Ismail stated that the resolve of Ajimobi to rebuild the Music House is a welcome development which demonstrates that the government had admitted that it was wrong to demolish the building in the first place.
The party said the government would not have needed to use tax payers’ money to rebuild the structure if it had been patient and compassionate in the handling of the matter.
The ADP counseled that the governor would have avoided such waste of public funds if it had respected the rule of law by waiting for the court process instituted by Ayefele to take its course rather than clandestinely stealing into the premises of Music House in the unholy hours of a Sunday to demolish the property.
“We thank God that we are dealing with a matter that has remedy. It would have been a different thing if the lack of patience and compassion on the part of the governor had led to the loss of lives that could not be reclaimed.
The ADP stated that the revelations in the controversy between the government and Fresh FM have also revealed that all is not well with the operations of the Physical Planning Unit of the government.
“The Ayefele saga is evidence that the handling of town planning matters in the state is still at a rudimentary and pedestrian level.
“We are aware that physical planning officials do mark buildings for contravention of town planning laws but never go back to such sites for months only to surface one day and threaten the owners of building with demolition.
“The Physical Planning Unit lacks necessary facilities like vehicles to monitor the state for buildings under construction. This is despite the fact that the unit is one of the units generating high revenue for the government.
“We implore the Ajimobi government not to regard revenue generated by the Physical Planning unit as profit as if it is a private sector business concern. Revenue from such sources should be deployed to guarantee efficiency in service delivery.
“The inspection of building under construction is not primarily to generate revenue for government but to secure public safety. Such safety are better guaranteed when civil servants who perform these functions are given necessary facilities to discharge their functions efficiently”, the statement concluded.
