Governor Mohammed To ICPC: Your Claim On Seizure Of Land In Abuja, Total Falsehood
BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, BAUCHI – Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State Bauchi State has described a publication by Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) in which it alleged that it has uncovered and seized a plot of land in Abuja linked to him a baseless, untrue and a total falsehood.
The Bauchi Government states; “For the records, we wish to state as follows: Zinaria International School was established and had been long operational, offering quality education, in a cost-effective manner, to all and sundry, long before Senator Bala Mohammed became Minister of the FCT.
“Like any other corporate entity, due to planned expansion, the School applied for land, a legitimate right it would have exercised, irrespective of whosoever was the Minister of the FCT, at the time”.
These were contained in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Governor, Mukhtar Idris Gidado, in which he said that the ICPC’s narrative is not only false and misleading but raises fundamental issues of Constitutionalism bothering on of human rights and rule of law
The Bauchi State Government stressed that given the prevailing climate of FAKE NEWS hoisted on the world by idle minds and people of questionable character, the governor’s initial attitude was to ignore the story and face assiduously, the pursuit and realisation of his avowed commitment to rescuing Bauchi State from the shameful legacy of failed infrastructure, economic collapse and benumbing poverty that his Administration inherited.
The statement titled: ‘RE: ICPC’S TALE OF LIES AND IMPUNITY AGAINST HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR BALA MOHAMMED’ the governor described it as “a false and mischievous statement, by the headline: ICPC Seizes Multi-Million Naira Landed Property from Bauchi State Governor”.
Governor Mohammed said; “However, the story emanated from a release on the official website of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), an agency of the Federal Government charged with the responsibility of ensuring that public officers do not take advantage of their official positions, to short-change the system.
“In the circumstance, we refute the Commission’s story in its entirety and state that Senator Bala Mohammed did not flout any policy or break any law, known to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria nor did he, in any way, breach his oath of office to warrant perniciously scandalizing his name or subjecting members of his family to mindless persecution as the ICPC is wilfully pushing.
The Bauchi Government further said that the shareholders and directors of the School are Nigerians who, by their respective ages, were qualified to apply for and be allocated land if they met the conditions precedent.
In his words: “And we make bold to say that all the names listed in the MEMAT of the School are eminently qualified to be allocated land.
“It is patently preposterous and mischievous to make heavy weather of the fact that Senator Bala Mohammed has something to do with the School. As official records will clearly show, he had resigned from the School as soon as he was appointed a Minister. So, the issue of conflict of interest could not have arisen,” the statement stressed.
It continued; From the above, it is crystal clear that the ICPC is on a voyage of discovery, aimed at discrediting Governor Bala Mohammed, at all cost. We can understand that the Governor’s sterling accomplishments, under one year, is causing sleepless nights to his traducers, people who, in spite of the oil windfall of the past, squandered the collective patrimony of the state on the altar of self-aggrandizement thereby placing the state on the lowest rungs of the developmental ladder.
“But we are hard put to understand the ICPC’s paranoid obsession with demonizing Governor Bala Mohammed in breach of the Constitutional protection from prosecution. Otherwise, how on earth would the ICPC approbate and reprobate at the same time?
“Finally, we want to assure the public that Senator Bala Mohammed did not misuse his position as FCT Minister to confer any undeserved privileges or advantages on his family. That he allocated thousands of hectares of land to schools, individuals and business organisations is a matter of public record”.
Gidado then said; “The Commission rightly acknowledges that being a Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, like all other Governors, is immune from prosecution. That being the case, why is the ICPC disobeying the Constitution? Why is the Constitutional watchdog chewing the bones of the Constitution through this flagrant disregard for one of the pillars of constitutional stability?
“The Commission admits that the property was allocated to a school, meaning, for educational purposes. To wit, the school is in place. Why is the ICPC in a hurry to disrupt the smooth functioning of a public trust that is devoted to learning, if not for the singular purpose of ingratiating itself to its paymasters by causing maximum damage to the family’s investment?
“In one breath, the Commission states that it had charged the matter to Court. In another breath, it claims that it has seized the property because it is the “PROCEEDS OF CRIME”. Pray, from where does the Commission derive its powers to label the Governor a criminal? Or has the Commission turned itself into a Court? Even if we assume that it is now a Court, can the Commission be a judge in its own case?
“It is this kind of institutional IMPUNITY that ridicules our judiciary; when public servants, playing God, usurp the powers of our Courts and the judges and arrogate to themselves the powers of life and death”.
“Given the campaign to discredit politicians as mindless plunderers who shamelessly misappropriate the public patrimony, it is important that members of the public do not lose sight of the fundamental universal implication of this needless controversy. Is it fair, right or just to deny members of the family of a public office holder their right to the public good, for the simple reason that their benefactor or relation is holding public office?” Gidado asked.
Governor Mohammed therefore earnestly implored all people of goodwill and conscience, no matter their political leanings, to rise and condemn the brazen high-handedness and unconstitutional behaviour of the ICPC, saying that “It is Bala Mohammed today; it could be any other person tomorrow”.
