Following recent arrest of girls at popular night clubs in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has finally pulled down buildings of the Caramelo Lounge.
The demolition came barely three weeks after officials arrested 32 strippers at the Caramelo Lounge.
Viewpoint Housing News reporters who visited the place located at Plot 630 T.O.S. Benson Crescent, Utako District, Abuja gathered that the bulldozers, under the supervision of officials of FCTA moved in early Monday morning to carry out the demolition exercise after serving a 48-hour notice to the management of the club.
Management of the facility lamented huge losses.
The accountant of the hotel, Mr. Lawan Boloruduro said, “We have lost property worth N60 million to N80 million excluding the value of the land and structure.”
To this end, he said management would approach the law court for negotiation.
Boloruduro said, “About two weeks ago the agency came and demolished the hotel fence and arrested some of the strippers while we were trying to negotiate with them as usual and get permission to erect the fence that was demolished two weeks ago.
“The agency came back last week Friday at about 7:00pm to direct us to quit the premises and less than 48 hours, at exactly 6:30am Monday, a bulldozer was here and nobody was allowed to remove anything from the premises.”
He said management had been paying the contravention fee for the use of property and there was no plan to demolish it.
The accountant however attributed the demolition of the building to complaints raised by neighbours about noise.
The Managing Director of the lounge, Mr. Max Eze described the demolition as unfortunate saying, workers have been rendered jobless.
“We have over 100 staff. As far as I am concerned, even in the jungle, there are rules.
“Nigeria is worse than a jungle. We are in this mess today and tomorrow it might be you. This is really bad.
“They claimed this is a hideout for armed robbers and prostitutes. Why couldn’t they carry out an investigation?
“A notice was brought 7:00pm on Friday the 10th of May 2019 which said it was giving us 48 hours to evacuate the premises and in less than 48 hours, by 6:45am they had already pulled down the building. This is a barbaric society.
“They gave reasons that the building was originally meant to be a clinic and that it’s not a commercial building.
“Running a hotel is equally a commercial activity because clinics are meant to take care of people and hotels are also meant to do that so what is the difference between both of them?
“The approval to build a structure here was for clinical use to which we have been paying the contravention fee to that effect.”
