• Says monument violates Owo tradition

• Reveals land returned to Olowo as rightful owner

• Land originally belonged to Arala family, Akeredolu’s aide states

The demolition of the cenotaph built by the former governor of Ondo State, the late Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, to immortalise and honour victims of worshippers of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, has continued to generate a blame game following the stance of the state government over the development.

The state governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, while expressing dismay over the position of the Catholic Bishop of Ondo Diocese, Most Rev. (Dr) Jude Arogundade, on the demolition, said that the bishop failed to explore the proper channel of communication.

Aiyedatiwa, while describing the Bishop’s disposition as false, in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Ebenezer Adeniyan, emphasised that the demolition of the Memorial Park was a necessary step taken to restore the dignity of Owo’s culture and the original purpose of the site.

According to the governor, the Olowo of Owo, Oba Ajibade Ogunoye, is the rightful owner of the land where the monument was constructed, stressing that the state government revoked the piece of land after realising the procedural errors made in taking possession of the land for the construction of the cenotaph by Akeredolu’s administration.

Aiyedatiwa assured that a new cenotaph would be built.

Meanwhile, the former Chief Press Secretary to the late Akeredolu, Richard Olatunde, revealed that the former governor had revoked the allocation of the land from Oba Ajibade after receiving a protest letter from the Arala family, who were described as the original landowners.

“Their complaint was that since the said land was acquired from them for overriding public interest, it should not be allocated for private use.”

Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishop of Ondo Diocese, Most Rev. (Dr) Jude Arogundade, had in a statement expressed strong condemnation and disappointment over the demolition.

According to the statement, the demolition is a “violation of our common respect for the dignity of life and the memory we share of our 41 brothers and sisters who were unjustly killed.

Also, the widow of the former governor, Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, condemned the demolition of the Memorial Park.

In a video posted on her official Facebook page, Akeredolu expressed deep sorrow and outrage over the demolition, which she described as an attempt to “rubbish” her husband’s legacy.

The widow, who berated the Olowo of Owo, accusing him of hypocrisy, said the monarch was installed by her husband and questioned why he would allow such a dishonour to his memory. (The Guardian)