Oyo State demolishes Ayefele’s Fresh FM

A part of the building housing a private radio station owned by popular singer Yinka Ayefele was demolished on Sunday morning by Oyo State government.

The demolition came days after Ayefele dragged the state government to court over the matter.

“Oyo state government did at last…my pains my sweat,” the singer said in a message posted to his Facebook page.

Fresh FM’s director of corporate affairs and promotions David Ajiboye said last week that the government wanted to demolish the building because the staff canteen, a spiral staircase, the mast and the fence were not in the approved plan.

He insisted that the demolition was politically motivated. He accused Oyo State’s commissioner of information Toye Arulogun of being the mastermind of the plan to destroy Fresh FM.

“Toye Arulogun, he has just 9 months in office as a commissioner for information. He’s behind all the troubles and feeds the governor with inciting news about Fresh FM, Ajiboye said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

“When he failed to use NBC to sanction us, He wants to use executive power. Please, ask him what he did with Sweet FM in Abeokuta and just recently when what he achieved with Star FM / MITV Ibadan station.”

The state government said on Wednesday that there was no witch-hunt behind its decision to demolish the radio station.

Arulogun said several companies and government-owned entities such as University of Ibadan, Kola Daisi, University College Hospital, banks and other radio stations were asked to provide approved plans.

Those that contravened the approved plans were demolished, he said.

“The state government observed that property owners in the state are deviating from the originally approved building plans without seeking physical planning approvals from the Oyo State Bureau of Physical Planning and Development Control,” Arulogun said.

Ajiboye said the state only gave a three-day notice to evacuate the building. But the state government said there was a reason for that.

It said the Fresh FM was first asked to provide its approved building plan over 12 months ago.

“The letter to Fresh FM was received by one Bamiduro Aderonke and a reminder letter dated 18th August 2017 was sent to the radio station to again request for the planning approval/permit for the Radio Station in line with the Oyo State Physical and Development Control laws,” Arulogun said.

The radio was supposed to reply within seven days. It never did, the government said. And another letter received by one Adebisi Akinfunmi on the 21st of August 2017 was sent by the government.

Arulogun said another letter was sent to Fresh FM on 29th of June, 2018, to submit a fresh building plan application that will reflect the existing structures on site. He said the station did not reply.

He said that the defiant posture of the radio station prompted the Bureau to serve a three-day demolition notice on the 13th August 2018 which expired on the 15th August 2018.