Owner of Demolished Kaduna Restaurant, Vows to Seek Redress in Court

By John Shiklam

The owner of the demolished Asher Kings and Queens Restaurant in Kaduna, Kaduna State, Mrs. Aisha Mercy Yakubu, has vowed to seek redress in court.

The restaurant was demolished last week by the Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KASUPDA) over allegations that the building was the proposed venue of a ‘sex party’, even though the flyer announcing the event, which was said to have been circulated on the social media, had no detail of the location of where the illicit event was to hold.

In a statement issued yesterday, Mrs. Yakubu, who is the wife of the spokesman of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abraham Catoh, said she rented the one-storey building for a restaurant business, adding that the business was registered at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as a restaurant and an event centre, not a hotel.

According to her, on December 27, 2020, the VIP lounge was booked by a customer who wanted to show appreciation to his customers for patronising him.

She said before the event could commenced, she noticed an unusual movement around the main gate to the restaurant which was half opened to avoid a crowded environment.

Yakubu said: “We approached the main gate, and on getting there, I saw two truckloads of heavily armed police officers.

“I asked the team leader what was going on but he ignored my inquest, and said he would explain to me when we get to the Police Station, Sabon Tasha Division.

“When we arrived at the police station, my customer, who accompanied me to there, enquired what the matter was and the police showed us a poster on a phone belonging to one of the officers by name Inspector Felix.

“It was a poster of an event titled: ‘Kaduna Sex Party’, which the police claimed the venue for the supposed ‘sex party’ was scheduled to hold at my restaurant, even though with no address of where it will take place on the poster.

“I denied knowledge of that event as there was nothing of that sort taking place at the restaurant, and I wouldn’t stoop so low to entertain such illicit activity at my place. But the police refused to believe me and had my friend and two of my staff detained for one night and a day, and the customer who had earlier hired the place for usage on that fateful day was also arrested the next day.”

Yakubu alleged that she paid N100,000 for bail to one police officer called Felix for the release of her staff members that were arrested.

She stated further that: “I noticed how incompetent the police officers were, then I suggested to them to call the phone number on the supposed ‘Kaduna Sex Party’ poster, which they immediately did, and the identity of the number came out through True Caller as Marvelous Akpan.

“The police asked me to pay a fee of N20,000 for them to do their job of tracking the user of the phone number, which I immediately paid, so that they would swing into action.

“Marvelous Akpan was arrested the next day, interrogated and he admitted to owning the phone number on the poster and printing of the poster which was posted on social media, and was assisted by his friend, Noah, and one other man.”

Yakubu said: “On further interrogation, Akpan confessed to the police that he didn’t know me and had never been to my restaurant nor have any knowledge of its address.

“Mr. Chimeze, who had hired my restaurant, was released after the successful arrest of Akpan.”

She lamented that all her property (and building) was completely destroyed as she was not notified before the building was demolished.

Yakubu added that she lost her one-month pregnancy due to the trauma and shock arising from the incident.

“I watched them pull down the building without allowing me to remove any item before the demolition. As a result of the trauma, I lost my one-month-old pregnancy.

“I plan to seek legal redress for defamation of character and the loss of my property in the building,” she said.