Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State has revealed that the memorial park built to immortalise the victims of the June 2, 2022, terror attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo, was demolished due to issues surrounding the ownership of the location.

Mr Aiyedatiwa, who also noted that the demolition of the cenotaph was not an act of disrespect for the victims of the attack, said the action was carried out to restore the deep-rooted culture of the people of the Owo community.

“Aside from the official complaints from the Palace of the Olowo, there have also been protests by various segments of the people of Owo against the location of the Memorial Park, as it was said to be against the culture of the land to site a cenotaph at the heart of the town and in front of the palace.

“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,” Mr Aiyedatiwa said through a statement issued by his spokesman, Ebenezer Adeniyan, on Thursday.

The governor also revealed that the land where the memorial park was located legally belongs to AgroMore Limited — a company owned by the Olowo of Owo, Ajibade Gbadegesin Ogunoye, before his ascension to the throne.

He added that the land was initially acquired by the government in 2010 but was re-allocated to its original owner in 2021 under the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s administration.

According to him, at the time of constructing the cenotaph, there was no record of official revocation of the land from AgroMore.

He posited that the government later realised the procedural errors made in taking possession of the land for the construction of the cenotaph.

Reacting to the statement released by the Catholic Bishop of Ondo Diocese, Jude Arogundade, over the demolition of the cenotaph, Mr Aiyedatiwa said that the letter written by the church negates the cordial relationship of “open channels of communication” established with the religious leaders in the state.

“The statement by Bishop Arogundade confirmed that those protests took place in Owo but failed to mention that the Catholic Diocese never sought an engagement with the state government while trying to douse tension over the protests.

“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.”

He added, “The engagement between the Olowo-in-Council and the government continued after Governor Aiyedatiwa assumed office. The Governor then directed officials of the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Lands and Housing, and the Owo Local Government to revisit the issue to relocate the Memorial Park.

“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.

“Governor Aiyedatiwa has commissioned a team of government officials to liaise with relevant stakeholders to make arrangements to build a new cenotaph at a location acceptable to the people of Owo.”