DATKEM Enterprises Limited, the promoter of DATKEM Plaza, Ijebu-Ode, is an illegal company as it is not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, according to an investigation.
The illegal company is constructing the equally illegal five-storey plaza, which was partially demolished on Sunday.
DATKEM belongs to the wife of a former governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunke Daniel.
The plaza was without an approved plan. The structure also contravened the state’s physical planning laws and the building codes with numerous defects.
However, the most intriguing is that the company is operating illegally and is, therefore, not recognised as a corporate entity.
A search on the website of CAC failed to produce DATKEM Enterprises Limited. But there was DATKEM Fashion Centre, Ondo, registered in 2022.
A competent source who pleaded anonymity said, “When we searched the name of the company in the CAC pool of registered companies, we came up with nothing.
“It is curious that a company is purportedly registered as an enterprise and at the same time, a limited liability company. It’s obvious that the owners of DATKEM Plaza wanted to use a fake company to obtain approval from the government, an action which ordinarily is unlawful.
“The implication here is that, having not registered with the CAC, if the company has any problem, nobody can trace it.”
The source expressed surprise that a former governor, who is also a serving senator, could be involved in anything illegal.
The source also alleged that the 2009 building plan approval must have been done with impunity by the then Governor Gbega Daniel, without recourse to the state’s town planning laws and building codes.
Even at that, the structure on the ground was at variance with the approval.
This informed the series of contravention notices served the owners since May 2022.
