The Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the Kwara State
Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to probe into sales of public assets has
delivered a damning report on how former governors, including Dr. Bukola Saraki
allegedly milked the state to complete hopelessness and standstill.
The governor inaugurated the panel on August 11 to
investigate the sales, disposal or unlawful acquisition of government
properties from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2019.
Governors who had governed Kwara during the period are
Mohammed Lawal (1999-2003), Bukola Saraki (2003-2011), Abdulfatah Ahmed
(2011-2019).
The Judicial Commission was chaired by retired Justice
Olabanji Orilonishe, who submitted the report of the commission on Wednesday.
According to him, several of the government properties
disposed by the past administrations were undervalued and sold at giveaway
prices while deliberate policies were made to “enrich some individuals and
syphon money out of the state.
Presenting the three-volume report to Governor AbdulRazaq on
Wednesday in Ilorin, Orilonishe said discoveries during their assignment showed
that the state was milked “to complete hopelessness and a standstill.”
He said many policies related to sale or management of
public assets offered “avenues for reckless expenditure to enrich some
individuals’”, lamenting that the state, owing largely to such practices, is
the least developed of the 12 states created in 1967.
“This sad situation must change. The time to change it is
now and not later,” he said, urging the new administration to muster the
political will and courage to challenge some of the actions while only those
found to be in order should stand.
The report is divided into three volumes, comprising the
main report and recommendations; exhibits; and minutes of meetings and
visitation report.
The panel visited Lagos, Abuja, and Kaduna in the course of
its assignment, observing in part of the report that the sales of several
public properties were often done in “secrecy” with only a few officials being
privy to the deals.
AbdulRazaq commended the panel for their patriotic duties to
the state, saying nothing could compensate for their sacrifices.
He said the need to visit the past was not to hound anyone
but to ensure that such mistakes or excesses were not committed in the future,
adding that the revelations so far from the past were enough reasons for the
present public officials to act properly in the handling of public resources.
AbdulRazaq observed that members of the panel were subjected
to social media blackmail during their assignment, saying there was no need for
anyone to get jittery if they had not committed any grievous crimes against the
state.
“We know some of your members were facing a lot of blackmail
in the social media. We know we’ve done the right thing and selected the right
people. That doesn’t matter. Fact and figure speak for themselves and the truth
will also prevail. That’s where we stand. Essentially, justice will be done for
the state,” he said.
“You have done a very good job for the state and we are
happy to receive the report. On our part, we did not interfere in any way or manner
in the way you did your job. We are not out to witch-hunt anybody. We just want
the right thing to be done in the state and we want proper templates set so
that in future such things do not reoccur.
“We will also learn from this so that we don’t do the same
thing. We appreciate you for the work you have done. I can assure you that your
work is not in vain.
“Financially, we cannot pay you for what you have done,
especially with the time line within which you have done the work. It is an
assignment that ordinarily should take a whole year. We are grateful,”
AbdulRazaq said in a release by Rafiu Ajakaye, his Chief Press Secretary.
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