The Oyo State government says it has an issue with the Music House of veteran musician, Yinka Ayefele, and not Fresh FM.
Commissioner for Information in the state, Mr Toye Arulogun, made the clarification on Wednesday while explaining the rationale behind the demolition of the Music House.
“Oyo State government has no problem with Fresh FM, Oyo State government has a problem with Music House,” he said during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
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Mr Arulogun stressed that the part of the building that was demolished was necessary because it was in contravention of the laws of the state.
He said, “Whether it’s a canteen there or whatever, that structure will still be wrong. Whatever they are doing in that place, that structure will still be out of place. It would still have contravened the law, so it doesn’t have anything to do with Fresh FM.”
The commissioner said this was why the government carried out a partial demolition, noting that what they did was to take over what was allegedly encroached upon.
Presenting some documents during the interview to back his argument, he said the matter began in 2017.
According to him, the government wrote to the management of the radio station in June but there was no response.
Although the media outfit said its architects were working on the letter, Arulogun said the government expected a response while they ought to have engaged the government rather than go to the media.
He said a team comprising officials of the state government and the Music House went on an inspection of the said structure and made some discovery after the building approval was presented.
The commissioner insisted while the media outfit applied for approval for an office complex and not a radio station, a number of structures that were not included in the plan were also added.
“The first thing is that that land has been encroached upon. The size of the land that was given to Music House is not what they are operating on. The building size measured 29.7m by 21.6m on ground, as against 11.925m by 10.20m in the survey plan submitted by Music House. So, there is a contravention,” he said.
Arulogun added, “They asked if this thing could have been resolved? Yes, it could have been resolved but they chose to go the other way and government must do what they had to do.
“There is a building contravention, there is a planning contravention, and government gave you ample time since 2017 when this engagement started.”
