Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has reacted to the seized multi-million Naira property belonging to him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The ICPC had claimed that Senator Mohammed in his official capacity as the FCT Minister had allocated the said property to a school that had himself and family members as directors and shareholders, despite an existing right of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture over the land.
Reacting to the claim by the ICPC in a statement on Saturday issued by his Senior Special Assistant, Mukhtar Gidado, Governor Mohammed said that the narrative by the anti-graft agency was not only false and misleading but also raised fundamental issues bordering on human rights and the rule of law.
According to the statement, the property which houses Zinaria International School is located at Plot 298 Wuye District, Cadastral Zone B3, FCT, Abuja, had been in operation long before Senator Bala Mohammed became Minister of the FCT.
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“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, 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 wilfully pushing.
“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.
“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 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,” the statement concluded.
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