The recent demolition of the Owo Memorial Park in Ondo State, commissioned by the late Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu in memory of victims of the June 5, 2022 terrorist attack at St. Francis Catholic Church, has stirred widespread outrage and deepened political and cultural tensions in the state.
The memorial, erected to honour over 40 worshippers killed in the massacre, was pulled down on the orders of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, allegedly following complaints by the Olowo of Owo and the Olowo-in-Council that the site was inappropriate and offensive to traditional values, being located directly opposite the palace.
The controversy, however, has taken a multi-dimensional turn involving the state government, the Owo traditional institution, and the late governor’s widow, Mrs. Betty Akeredolu.
In a viral video, Mrs. Akeredolu criticized the demolition as a politically motivated move aimed at diminishing her husband’s legacy.
She accused the Olowo of hypocrisy, noting that while the palace objected to a symbolic memorial, it itself sits on ancestral burial grounds.
“You travel abroad and see how memorials are treated with reverence,” she said. “Why do we choose to desecrate our own in the name of tradition?”
In response, the Olowo-in-Council issued a statement taking responsibility for the call to demolish the park, insisting that the palace had rejected the park’s siting from inception.
It claimed that the location was inconsistent with Owo’s cultural norms and traditions. Traditionalists in the town have since held demonstrations supporting the palace’s stance.
However, questions have been raised about the timing and motive of the demolition. If the park was culturally offensive, why was it allowed to stand for nearly three years without incident?
Would it have been touched at all if Akeredolu were still alive?
The commentary by Festus Adedayo, from which this report is derived, argued that all three actors—the palace, the state government, and Mrs. Akeredolu—bear some blame in escalating the situation.
He criticized the palace for hiding behind rigid interpretations of culture, the governor for acting with undue haste, and the former First Lady for her combative tone.
“The other question to ask is, is culture made for man or man was made for culture? No one needs to tell anyone that Owo needs to memorialize that gory event of June 2022 when some misbegotten blood-seeking vampires killed worshipers in one fell swoop.
“Akeredolu did well by constructing the park so that the memories of the dead would be kept alive and Owo itself would be reminded to be on its guard against repeat occurrences. More importantly, why didn’t the palace ask the government to demolish all the infrastructure that Akeredolu constructed in Owo since it is so rankled by the late governor’s footprints?
“These questions needed to be answered and sincerely so that some people seeking to even scores won’t hide under the nebulous culture they created.”
“For Mrs. Akeredolu, having lived for decades in Yorubaland, she should have realized that Yoruba revere their culture. They won’t even stand an outsider making a mockery of it. Using foul words on the monarchy of Owo, especially when her children, bona-fide children of Owo, would forever need the ancient town for, especially, validation all the days of their lives, is akin to destroying their future.”
Adedayo maintained that the park served a critical symbolic purpose, ensuring that the victims of the 2022 massacre were not forgotten and reminding the town of the need for vigilance against future attacks.
“Was the park a cemetery? No. It was a monument. One that signified collective grief and historical consciousness,” he wrote.
He also challenged the government to channel the same urgency it used in demolishing the park into completing numerous abandoned infrastructure projects initiated by the late governor.
“While the Ondo State governor must be commended for promptly acceding to the request of the palace, Ondo people would be more excited if that government deploys same alacrity it took it to dismantle the Akeredolu-built Park into finishing the many projects the governor’s late boss began but which death prevented him from concluding.
“Hiding under the banner of “palace request” to execute a governmental philosophy is mean.”
The demolition of the Owo Memorial Park, far from settling an issue, has opened broader debates about the place of tradition in modern governance, the treatment of public memory, and the politics of legacy in Nigerian leadership.
—Culled from an opinion by Festus Adedayo
