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Saraki, Kwara Govt At Loggerheads Over Land Ownership

    Advertisement The immediate past President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has rejected a recent move by the administration of the Kwara State … Continue reading Saraki, Kwara Govt At Loggerheads Over Land Ownership


Dr Bukola Saraki (File photo) Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. Photo: Twitter-@RealAARahman
Bukola Saraki (File photo)                                                      Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. Photo: Twitter-                                                                                                                    @RealAARahman

 

 

The immediate past President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has rejected a recent move by the administration of the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, over a piece of land said to be owned by his late father, Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki.

In a statement personally signed by him on Saturday, Saraki condemned the government’s withdrawal of the ownership of the land allocated to late Olusola Saraki, a Senate Leader in the Second Republic.

He also accused Governor Abdulrazaq of crossing the line of decency with his alleged effort to erase the legacies of his late father.

The former Senate President issued the statement a day after the government reverted to itself, the ownership of the land bordering the Civil Service Clinic in Ilorin, the state capital.

A statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, on Friday said a new secretariat complex would be erected on the land in 2020.

It stressed that the land was “unlawfully allocated” to a private firm, Asa Investments Limited – owned by the former Senate President’s father – without any record of payment to the state government.

The statement added that no certificate of occupancy was ever issued in favour of the firm as the government had bought the land to house the civil service clinic, its parking space, and a secretariat.

It noted that Governor Abdulrazaq has signed a constitutional instrument withdrawing the allocation of the land, saying the action followed a resolution of the State House of Assembly.

In his reaction, Saraki accused the governor of waging a war of attrition waged against the legacy of his father and everything that belongs to the late politician.

He said, “Yesterday (Friday) night, the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq finally showed his true colour when he announced his decision to revoke the ownership of a property rightfully held by my late father, Dr Olusola Abubakar Saraki on Plots 1, 3 and 5 Ilofa Road, GRA, Ilorin popularly known as Ile Arugbo, (Old People’s home).

“The property, since the Second Republic, has always been used to host the weekly gathering of a multitude of aged people in the society who are provided food, money and health services, as part of the social welfare programme sponsored by the late politician. The tradition has since been maintained.”

“Before now, this same Governor had invited all the members of the State House of Assembly and directed them to commence the process of amending the law to change the name of the State University which the last administration renamed after my late father, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki,” the former Senate President added.

Read the revocation order by the government below:

In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 5 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) 1999 and Section 1 and 28 of the Land Use Act Cap. L.5 of 2004 and all other powers enabling me in that behalf, I, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, Governor of Kwara State of Nigeria, give the following notice:

The Notice may be cited as the Land Use (Revocation of Right of Occupancy and withdrawal of allocation) Notice, 2019.

Allocation of plots of land 1, 3 and 5 TPS/MISC 129 to Asa Investment (Nig) Ltd. which is meant for the Kwara State Secretariat. The land, specifically and more described in survey No. KwSH 927 and Land/G1071 situated and lying beside Civil Service Clinic along Ilofa Road Ilorin, Kwara State, is hereby revoked and withdrawn for overriding public interest for use of the purpose it is originally meant for:

The construction of Kwara State Secretariat; parking space for civil service clinic and the Kwara State Secretariat and annex to the Civil Service when upgraded to a hospital.

That the plots allocated are hereby declared void. Notice is therefore given to you, Asa Investments Nigeria Limited, that the plots of land 1,3 and 5 TPS/MISC 129 allocated to you and any title on the land whatsoever are hereby revoked, and the allocation is withdrawn for overriding public interest.

Read Senator Saraki’s full statement below: