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Next governor of Kaduna will demolish more houses than me – El-Rufai

Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has stated that his successor would do more demolition of houses than him.

El-Rufai made the remark on Friday while reacting to residents of the state who were allegedly calling him a demolisher and praying for his tenure to end soon.

Speaking when he featured on a radio programme in the state capital, the governor warned residents not to rejoice yet saying the next governor would do more for the development of the state.

According to him, some residents who understand their motives, now appreciate the urban development being executed across the state by his administration.

El-Rufai alleged that some of his critics attacked him for not sharing money to them, stressing that developing the state was worth more than sharing of money.

“When we started working on school construction they said we are not providing roads now we are working on roads they said we are not empowering people.

“If sharing money at night is what they mean by empowering people, they should keep insulting us.

“The masses who we are working for appreciate what we are doing for them.

You know the election is approaching and they see me as a demolisher “Mai rusau” so they think that maybe the next person that will come after me will not demolish but he will demolish more than I do, God willing,” he said.

The Lagos State government has said it would demolish a distressed three-storey building at No. 2 Brown Street, off Bolade Bus-Stop in Oshodi area of the state.

This follows several quit notices issued by the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and a seven-day evacuation ultimatum issued to traders and residents of the distressed three-storey building.

The notice was contained in a statement issued by the Director, Public Affairs of the agency, Mr Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, on Sunday in Lagos.

In the statement, the General Manager, Mr Gbolahan Oki, was quoted as saying that the seven-day quit notice became necessary after the scientific and Structural Integrity/Stability Test (SIT) carried out by LASBCA experts and its sister agency, Lagos State Material Testing Laboratory revealed that the building “is extremely dilapidated and a disaster waiting to happen’’.

Mr Oki said there was the need for the “removal of the structure to prevent loss of lives and in line with the government’s drive to achieve zero tolerance to building collapse for the safety of Lagos residents.

The general manager said the building will be demolished in a bid to save lives while urging the occupants to vacate the building before April 15.

“The government will not fold its arms and watch a distressed structure of that magnitude collapse on her people without taking necessary action,’’ he said.

He reaffirming the state government’s commitment to safeguarding lives and property, while calling for the collaboration of residents in reporting distressed buildings to avert incidence of collapsed buildings.