By Kolawole Ojebisi
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has dismissed as “false and mischievous” an allegation levelled against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission(ICPC).
In a statement issued by Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mukhtar Gidado, Governor Mohammed alleged that the anti-graft agency is persecuting him unjustly by accusing him of abusing office during his tenure as Minister responsible for the Federal Capital Territory(FCT).
According to the governor, he did nothing wrong during his term as FCT Minister to warrant the alleged smearing of his name by the anti-graft agency. Gidado in his statement issued on behalf of Governor Mohammed further said: “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.
“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 whomsoever was the Minister of the FCT, at the time,” the statement partly read.
Recall that there have been news reports detailing how the ICPC announced it had seized a multi-million-naira property belonging to the Bauchi governor on grounds of alleged
shady dealings during his term as FCT Minister.
The commission on its website had further alleged that the governor, in his capacity as FCT Minister, “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.”
But the governor’s spokesman denied the allegations: ” 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.
“And we make bold to say that all the names listed in the MEMAT of the School are eminently qualified to be allocated land.”
