The governor of Bauchi state, Bala Mohammed, has refuted allegation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), that he allocated a property to himself while serving as the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The anti-graft agency had in a statement on Tuesday announced that it had seized the said property, housing Zinaria International School at Plot 298, Wuye District, Cadastral Zone B3, Abuja, saying its investigation found that the governor allocated the property to himself while serving as the minister of the federal capital territory.
However, in a statement on Sunday, Mukhtar Gidado, the governor’s spokesman, said the governor did nothing wrong to warrant the ICPC scandalising and subjecting members of his family to persecution.
The statement read, “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.”
The statement added that the said property was allocated to Zinaria International School long before Mohammed became the FCT minister, adding that all the names listed in the MEMAT (Draft Memorandum and Articles of Association) of the school were eminently qualified to be allocated land.
“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 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,” Gidado said.
