Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that the Federal Government would not tolerate the destruction of national monuments anywhere in the country for whatever reason.
Mohammed gave the assurance when he visited the site of the 190-year-old Brazilian style building in Lagos – on Sunday.
The building, acquired and gazetted as a national monument by the Federal Government in 1956, was destroyed by some developers, leading to legal battles between the developers and the Federal Government.
Mohammed said, “Because they wanted to develop this place, they have broken so many laws. Fortunately, this is a country of laws, and we are ready to meet them in court and one thing I can assure you is that nobody can benefit from his own crime.
“I want to assure you that we will challenge them in court and we are going to get our reliefs and we will restore this building to its formal glory. We have the picture, we will rebuild it.”
The minister said that the monument, built by returnee slaves from Brazil, was unique, because it chronicled the historical, cultural and social relationship between Nigeria and Brazil
He added, “It is like a living monument of our (slave trade) past. It was a monument that exhibited the Brazilian architecture at that time, which is rare to come by anywhere in the world. It is a remembrance of what our ancestors went through in slavery and how they triumphed, came back and showed that they were well-to-do. The important thing is that a people without history will perish very fast. This building was worth billions of dollars because it symbolised our past.
“No amount of skyscrapers can replace this history and all important monument that has been demolished, and I want to assure you that nobody can profit from his crime. You cannot go to court now and say that because the structure has been destroyed, the land should go back to the owner.”
