Kwara State's Governor Abdulrazaq seizes Saraki's land and plans using it for secretariat

GOVERNOR Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State has announced plans to build a secretariat on the piece of land in Ilorin reclaimed from one of his predecessors the former senate president Senator Bukola Saraki.

Between 2003 and 2011, Senator Saraki was the Kwara State governor but since he left office as senate president in February 2019, he has become the subject of corruption investigations. This year, Governor Abdulrazaq took over the affairs of Kwara State and has stepped up reclaiming what he says were illegally acquired assets by his predecessors.

Rafiu Ajakaye, the chief press secretary to the governor, said:  “Ownership of the land bordering the Civil Service Clinic in Ilorin has officially reverted to the Kwara State Government and a  new secretariat complex will be erected on the land next year. The land was originally meant for government secretariat and a parking space for the Civil Service Clinic but was unlawfully allocated to a private firm Asa Investments without any record of payment to the state government.

“No certificate of occupancy was ever issued in favour of the firm. Hundreds of civil servants still operate from rented apartments at a huge cost to the government, so the new secretariat, once completed in 2021, will definitely go a long way towards ending this unhealthy trend as well as provide a more conducive and decent working environment for government workers.

“Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has signed a constitutional instrument withdrawing the allocation of plots of land one, three and five to the firm, asserting that the said land was unlawfully appropriated contrary to the purpose for which it was meant. The governor’s decision followed a resolution of the Kwara State House of Assembly urging him to reclaim the land because it was arbitrarily taken over in the 90s without any evidence of payment by the Asa Investment, even though the land was meant for public use.

“The governor noted in the revocation order that the land was originally meant for the construction of another phase of the Kwara State Civil Service Secretariat and a parking space for both the civil service clinic and the secretariat.”