Ile Arugbo under demolition

Kwara State Government early Thursday morning began the demolition the family house of former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, popularly known as Ile Arugbo in Ilorin, the state capital.

It was gathered that a detachment of policemen supervised the demolition which was carried out after protests by a group of old women.

It will be recalled that government had some days ago alleged that the land was illegally acquired by Abubakar Saraki, the father of the Senate President.

But the Senate President who is also a former governor of the State had denied the allegation as he said his father legally acquired the property

However, the Kwara State Government had insisted on revocation of the plots, insisting that they were illegally acquired.

In a statement, Governor Abdulrazak Abdulrahman said the land was originally meant for government secretariat and parking space for civil service clinic but was unlawfully allocated to a private firm Asa Investments Limited,  owned by Saraki, without any record of payment to the state government.

He said, “Hundreds of civil servants still operate from rented apartments at a huge cost to the government.

“The new secretariat, once completed in 2021, will definitely go a long way to end this unhealthy trend as well as provide a more conducive and decent working environment for government workers.”