The demolition of the cenotaph built by the late former Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State to immortalise and honour victims of worshippers of St Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, has continued to generate a blame game following the stance of the state government over the development.
Expressing dismay over the position of the Catholic Bishop of Ondo Diocese, Most Rev Dr Jude Arogundade, on the demolition, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa stated that the bishop failed to explore the proper channel of communication.
While describing the bishop’s disposition as false, the governor, in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Ebenezer Adeniyan, emphasised that the demolition of the Memorial Park was a necessary step taken to restore the dignity of Owo’s culture and the original purpose of the site.
According to the governor, the Olowo of Owo, Oba Ajibade Ogunoye, is the rightful owner of the land where the monument was constructed, stressing that the state government revoked the piece of land after realising the procedural errors made in taking possession of the land for the construction of the cenotaph by the late Akeredolu’s administration.
He said, “We find it concerning that, despite not exploring any other channels of reaching Mr Governor aside from the letter submitted 48 hours prior, Bishop Arogundade chose to address the public while painting the state government as unresponsive, in a tone that could incite the public against the government over the issue.
“The land used for the Memorial Park originally belonged to AgroMore Limited (of No. 1, Oke Ogun Street, Owo), a company owned by Oba Ajibade Gbadegesin Ogunoye before he became the Olowo of Owo. In 2010, the Olusegun Mimiko administration acquired the land from the company for public use to make way for road dualisation. In January 2021, the Akeredolu administration reallocated the land to its original owner, AgroMore Limited.
“Although no bodies were buried at the site, it was constructed in the replica image of a cemetery, complete with insignia of the dead and inscriptions of the names of all the victims. This, the Olowo-in-Council and the people of Owo frowned upon and protested against as a taboo.
“There had been ongoing discussions between the Palace of the Olowo and the state government on the possibility of relocating the Memorial Park before the unfortunate demise of the former Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu. Some former government officials had taken advantage of the then-absence of H.E. Akeredolu (due to ill health) to ignore those discussions and rush to complete the cenotaph, which was never commissioned till today.
“After an agreement was reached with the Palace of the Olowo on the relocation of the cenotaph, the state government took the decision to reverse the faulty revocation of the land, returning it to its rightful owner: the Olowo of Owo. It was, therefore, the Olowo of Owo and AgroMore Limited—the rightful owners of the land—that carried out the demolition of the cenotaph, with the approval of the state government.”
Aiyedatiwa, who assured that a new cenotaph will be built, urged the Catholic Church to endeavour to live in peace with its host community and respect its traditional institution.
“Rather than playing along with the narratives of those politicising the issue, the Catholic Diocese should engage the government and the Owo community—more importantly, the Olowo of Owo—in sincere and constructive dialogue that promotes healing, unity, and respect for the victims’ memories,” he said.
Meanwhile, the former Chief Press Secretary to the late Akeredolu, Richard Olatunde, had disclosed that the former governor had revoked the allocation of the land from Oba Ajibade after receiving a protest letter from the Arala family, who were described as the original landowners.
“Their complaint was that since the land was acquired from them for overriding public interest, it should not be allocated for private use,” Olatunde said.
