The Kwara State government has denied attacking or demolishing any home belonging to old people, saying aid the property demolished was a shed occasionally used for a political gathering.
This was stated by the state’s Communications Commissioner, Murtala Olarewaju, in a statement last night. He explained that the narrative about government demolishing old people’s home was a fabrication by the opposition to cover up for not having any document to prove their ownership of the property bordering the civil service clinic in Ilorin, the state capital.
He further stated that the property is one of the over 100 government assets in GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State; Victoria Island Lagos; Kaduna, and Abuja, which were investigated by the Asset Recovery Committee, led by Senator Suleiman Ajadi, which were unlawfully converted to private use.
“Until its physical reclamation, the property comprised only of sheds. The property was neither an old people’s home, nor was it residential; nobody lived there. The property has always been a security risk. No fewer than 97 people, mostly women, have died in mysterious stampedes in that facility as they scampered for handouts.
“There were yearly mass deaths in the said property in November 2010, June 2011, and October 2013. A google search will instantly reveal these sordid facts, which were widely published in the media.”
Speaking further, the commissioner said the physical reclamation of the property by the government on January 2, 2020, was without any incident as nobody was met on the property.
“It was never a place where people lived in; so, the question of ejecting, maltreating, or deploying violence against anyone did not arise. No court process has been served on the government.
“Without any legal basis to claim the property, the opposition later that morning (January 2) mobilised some women to stage a protest in which they portrayed the government as attacking old people who were quartered there. This is an outright fabrication. The government strongly condemns the use and abuse of vulnerable and indigent old women for propaganda purposes,” he said.
