Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has reacted to the seizure of his multi-million Naira property by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)
ICPC Spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa, in a statement, said that the property seized houses Zinaria International School located at Plot 298 Wuye District, Cadastral Zone B3, FCT, Abuja.
Okoduwa had disclosed that ICPC’s investigation revealed that Mohammed, as FCT Minister allocated the property to a school which had himself and family members as directors and shareholders”.
But, the former Senator who served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mukhtar Gidado, described the action of ICPC as unjust persecution.
The statement reads in part: “The allegations by the anti-graft agency are false and mischievous.
“The governor during his tenure as the FCT Minister, did not flout any policy or break any law, known to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
He said he resigned from the school as soon as he was appointed a minister by ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan, adding that the claims by the anti-graft agency was “premised on bare-faced double standards, favouritism, dishonourable tactics and impunity.”
“We refute ICPC 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, or did he, in any way, breach his oath of office to warrant perniciously scandalising his name or subjecting members of his family to mindless persecution as the ICPC is willfully pushing.”
He stressed that Zinaria International School in question was established and had been operational long before Senator Bala Mohammed became the FCT minister.
“The shareholders and directors of the school are Nigerians qualified to apply for and be allocated land if they met the conditions required.
“And we make bold to say that all the names listed in the MEMAT (Draft Memorandum and Articles of Association) of the school are eminently qualified to be allocated land.
“Why is the ICPC in a rush to disrupt the 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?,” the statement added.
