Moses Oba
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), on Tuesday, June 16, announced that it has seized a miltimillion naira building from the Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Muhammed, which he acquired when he was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The building, which houses Zinaria International School, is located at Plot 298, Wuye District, Cadastral Zone B3, FCT, Abuja.
According to a statement by the commission on its twitter handle, investigation revealed that Senator Mohammed in his capacity as the FCT Minister allocated the said property to a school that allegedly had himself and family members as directors and shareholders despite an existing right of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture over the land.
To this end, according to the statement on the commission’s twitter handle, the commission will issue notices of seizure and shall cause them to be served on the appropriate land registry, ministry and department where the property is situated as required by law.
Following the notice of seizure, the commission will apply to the court for an order of forfeiture under Section 48 of the ICPC Act in line with the Federal Government policy focusing on recovery of proceeds of crime, pending when the tenure of the governor expires.
Senator Mohammed had earlier been charged for using his office to confer corrupt advantage upon himself and relations under Section 19 of ICPC law but could not be arraigned before he was sworn in as governor of Bauchi State.
In view of the provisions of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the charge which was pending before Justice Senchi of FCT High Court 13, Jabi, was withdrawn by ICPC to forestall its being struck out by the court suo moto.