Demolition: Ex-lawmaker drags Ogun before human rights commission

A former Chief Whip of Ogun State House of Assembly, Alhaji Musa Moruf, has dragged the Ogun State Government before the National Human Rights Commission over the demolition of his building in a part of the state. The NHRC’s panel of inquiry, sitting in Lagos at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, is currently conducting special inquiry into the cases of illegal demolition and eviction in the South West. The inquiry is to hold in Lagos to cover the complaints from the South-West Zone of the country between September 18 and 21. The commission is to investigate the complaints of such demolition and eviction and make recommendations to the Federal Government. In his testimony before the panel, presided over by the Chairman of the Governing Council of NHRC, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, on Tuesday, Moruf claimed that his property located at the Forestry Plantation neighborhood, known as Area J4 in Ogun State, was demolished without being compensated. He said the building was to be used as a hotel. Moruf, who had earlier petitioned the commission through the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and Civil Liberties Organisation, told the panel that the demolition of his building was “a political vendetta.” He said he had rushed to court to stop the state government when he got wind of the planned demolition, adding that despite being aware of its court action, the government went ahead to demolish the building in August 2013.