Gospel singer Yinka Ayefele has finally spoken out about the possible demolition of his music house which is estimated to be worth N800 million
The singer through his publicist, David Ajiboye, believes that the move is politically motivated and speaking to Saturday beats, he said:“We don’t see it as a threat; instead we see it as a challenge because the planned demolition of the music house is politically motivated. When the governor visited the studio in 2016, he said people told him to demolish the building because Ayefele was not in his camp. The building was approved in June 2008 as a business premise; that is over 10 years ago,”
Ayefele’s publicist insisted that the building passed all the required tests and that it is structurally sound.
“We have the deed of assignment which is the equivalent of a Certificate of Occupancy. We have a copy of the approved building plan dated June 6, 2008. In October 2012, the governor said he was going to demolish the building to pave way for the dualisation of the four lanes. The engineers came and they demolished a part of the fence, not the building.
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“Until six weeks ago, we got letters from the government agencies in Oyo State telling us that they want to evaluate the building. We asked them to come; they came on June 26, 2018. They titled the letter, ‘Re: Emergency request of proof of planning from Bureau of Physical Planning’.” They claimed we didn’t get approval for the radio tower permission00 the mast that was erected in the building.
“Their final recommendation was that since the developer had deviated from the approved building plan, it automatically meant that the building is not covered with an approval any longer.
“During the week, the commissioner issued a press release claiming that they got series of petitions from people that stated that in the last nine months, accidents have occurred on this road and it is as a result of the presence of the music house; but that is a lie.”
Ayefele is unwilling to beg the government and isn’t losing sleep over it: “We are not losing sleep over this incident. It is beyond Ayefele now and we are not prepared to plead with them. If they want to come and demolish the building, they should come but we are not occupying the place illegally. What was the government looking at since for over 10 years? This government has been in power for seven years.
“We are expecting them; they said they will come in the midnight. The truth of the matter is that they think we will come to them to worship them but we have not offended them. If they knew the building was not properly situated, why have they been collecting premises permit from us monthly? Why have they been taking tenement rate from us monthly? They brought a letter for us to pay for entertainment, canteen fee. The governor has visited and he praised Fresh FM. Most of the governorship aspirants in APC have visited us and we featured them on the air for free.”