Syndicates Target Nasarawa Govt Property For Sale
BY AHMED TUKUR LAFIA – Notorious syndicates that specialize in illegal land deals are currently perfecting plans to dispose of a choice, but somewhat abandoned property of the Nasarawa State government.
Located within the Tudun Wada area of Karu Local Government Area, the property, which is about 22 hectares of virgin land, seems to have caught the racketeers’ attention as they now flock the area daily, ferrying unsuspecting victims for so-called inspection visits.
Forefront reliably gathered that despite inherent signals of possible underhand deals by these racketeers, the property’s strategic location along the busy Keffi–Abuja road still makes it attractive to supposed buyers.
Our sources disclosed that the property was originally used for hosting the annual National Agricultural Trade Fair Show where states and commercial farmers from across the country converge to showcase their products.
It was also learnt from the sources that the syndicate members, driving “luxurious and intimidating vehicles”, usually storm the area with prospective buyers who are persuaded to come and have a look at the property first hand.
Equally, the sources hinted that initially, residents of the area and passersby had assumed that these regular visitors to the land were State government officials on duty tours.
However, Forefront checks indicate that officials at the Nasarawa State Ministry of Land are quite oblivious of current happenings around the location of this massive government-owned land.
Confronted with our findings on the syndicates’ activities, an official of the Land Ministry, who preferred anonymity, claimed ignorance of any plan by the State government to part with the choice land.
But promising to urgently draw his bosses’ attention to the matter, the official warned members of the public, especially those living outside Nasarawa State, to beware of fraudsters who are only out to fleece them in criminal land deals.
According to some locals, owners of property around the area have also suffered the same fate and had to unite in coming up with strategies to effectively stops these criminal elements on their evil tracks.
“Most of them are just out to dupe their victims who after showing interest in the land will be given an obviously high and unreasonable price that would expectedly scare them away.
“In that case, the syndicate members are the major beneficiaries having already collected the agent fees from their victims”, a competent source that is quite conversant with syndicates’ activities said.
