The demolition rendered thousands of persons homeless while property estimated billions of naira was also destroyed.
The Governor of Edo State, Monday Okpebholo has revealed his plan to probe the demolition of over 100 houses by past government of Godwin Obaseki.
He revealed that he will also set up a Commission of Inquiry on the controversial communities’ lands acquired by the immediate past government of Godwin Obaseki.
Recall that the immediate past government of Godwin Obaseki had in October 2022 demolished no fewer than 100 houses in Oke-Oroma, Irhirhi-Obazagbon and Ogheghe communities.
The demolition rendered thousands of persons homeless while property estimated billions of naira was also destroyed.
Governor Okpebholo, who visited the community located at Oredo and Ikpoba Okha Local Government Areas on Monday, two years after the demolition, said the panel of inquiry would investigate the rationale behind the demolition of the property and subsequent acquisition of the said land by the government, and submit its recommendations.
The governor said the visit was in line with the electoral promises made to the community that if elected, he would look into the matter to return the said land to the inhabitants.
According to him, I remember that during my campaign here, I promised to come back, and now I am here. We hate injustice in this administration. That is why we are here and happy to meet all of you. We will listen to your voices.
“In the next few days, I will invite you to the Government House and back it up with actions.
“A few days from now, we will set up a Commission of Inquiry to look into this land issue so that we can return your lands to you after the findings.
“We will check if the C of O is already issued on the lands belonging to the people. If there is and the reports say so, I will revoke them and return the lands to the people.
“As a government, our responsibility is to provide security. I will speak with the appropriate authorities in charge of security. Security personnel will come in here and restore peace,” he said.
At a press conference in October 2022, the immediate past Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare told newsmen that 106 structures have been marked for demolition, out of which 24 would not be demolished but to be used as government offices.
Nehikhare had also told the newsmen that the state government duly acquired the land measuring 1,229 hectares in 2017 and gazetted while the affected residents claimed that they acquired their plots of land legally.
He said the acquired land would be converted into a new city called “Coral City.
Recall also that in one of the engagements with the developer of the Coral City project in 2023 said, “Our financing partners would make this possible, as we estimate about N20 billion to cover the first phase of infrastructure, which is about 13.3km, and other things we are expecting would be ready within six to nine months.”