By Amah
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Anambra State Commissioner for Works, Mr Ifeanyi Okoma, says the Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) Head Office on Nnewi-Owerri Road was among the buildings marked for demolition for road construction in the state.
The commissioner made the disclosure in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Onitsha while reacting to complaints by the company over the demolition.
Okoma explained that all the affected buildings were marked and the people were informed.
“These buildings were marked sometime in December or January. We are not looking at individuals; it is something that cuts across the whole place, and it is not personalised.
“Even the Catholic Church and every other building that is along the road were not going to be exonerated. These roads were designed to decongest traffic gridlock experienced during festival periods,” he said.
According to him, Soludo is the only governor nationwide that uses made-in-Nigeria vehicles. Chief Innoson is our man; anybody trying to create a wrong narrative about the demolition exercise does not mean well.
Meanwhile, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) has expressed displeasure over the partial demolition of its head office, situated on the Owerri-Nnewi road.
Mr Cornel Osigwe, Head of Corporate Communications at Innoson Group, who confirmed the demolition to NAN, said that there was no pre-notification ahead of the demolition which took place on Wednesday.
He claimed that the office perimeter fence, some offices, the staircase and the company’s showroom were affected by the partial demolition.
According to him, there was no pre-notification ahead of the demolition; it came to us as a surprise.
“We did not know that the building itself was marked for demolition, and if it was marked, they should have given us time to relocate.
“The staff were working, and they just saw the demolition vehicle demolishing the building while work was going on.
“Some of our staff were trapped in the building; it took the efforts of our other staff to rescue those that were trapped while over 20 vehicles were also trapped.
“A day before the demolition, there was an announcement that there was going to be a demolition, and they were going to give one week for the houses that were marked for demolition to relocate.
“The company was not aware that the company was marked for demolition, and even if it was aware.
“There has been a public announcement that all the marked buildings have one week to relocate, but all those things were not considered.
“There were other buildings that were close to the head office and marked for demolition that were not demolished, but they came straight to our building and demolished it, making us wonder if there was another ulterior motive to it,” he said.
When asked if the demolition could be as a result of a political witch-hunt, the company’s image maker said he did not think the state government would intentionally decide to demolish the company.
“Gov. Charles Soludo of Anambra has been a great supporter of Innoson Vehicle, and Innoson has been a great supporter of the state government.
“But the way and manner that everything happened makes us wonder if the state government is aware that those handling the demolition have a personal vendetta against the company,” he added. (NAN)
