Some residents of Kaduna State have petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged illegalities, including encroachment, money laundering and diversion of funds from the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on the sale of Federal Government houses in Kaduna Polytechnic. The complainants who claimed to have being in the employment of the Kaduna Polytechnic for 25 years and 16 years respectively also alleged unlawful dispossession of landed properties lawfully acquired by them, despite satisfying all requirements for their acquisition.
Meanwhile, one of the complainants, alleged that her house at No 7 Dala Road was illegally taken over and allocated to a top security officer. In the petition which was received by the Commission on the 9th May, 2024, it was stated that the complainants, having been granted leasehold interest via letters of offer by the PIC duly paid the necessary fees and levies. However, the complainants lamented that the properties were trespassed by unknown people who violated their property rights.
The solicitor to the complainants, Mamman Nasir & Co. in the petition disclosed that after capturing their fees in the offer made to his clients (the complainants), one Abdulrahman Tanko Usman and his associates opened another account asking the complainants to pay the sum of ten thousand Naira and twenty thousand Naira respectively as sketch fees.
This payment, according to the petition was not made to the Federal Government’s account, but rather to a personal account with the account. Meanwhile, the petition further alleged that, parts of the properties were fraudulently and unlawfully carved out and sold to unknown persons without the consent and knowledge of the complainants. The alleged unlawfully carving out was also carried out at flats 1-6 Kaduna Polytechnic Quarters, Gwari Crescent Ungwa Rimi GRA Kaduna.
The complainants also alleged that the syndicates have opened a secret account in the name of Kaduna Polytechnic where some of the proceeds of the unlawful property sales are deposited. They contended that while the properties in question are Federal Government properties, they were being trespassed by individuals, whose motives are fraudulent. Also, the petitioners explained that on the house at No 7, Dala Road, the said Abdulrahman Tanko Usman of Works Department, Kaduna Polytechnic and two others carved out over 60 per cent of the properties, while claiming ownership of about 40 plots of land allocated to themselves in Sabon-Tasha, despite possessing their respective properties.
One of the allegations was that a letter of offer was forged and properties belonging to the Federal Government were converted into shops and sold to people at the rate of five million Naira per shop. The petitioners similarly alleged that a letter of offer was illegally awarded with control number KD/FGN/936 at No. 3A Gwari Crescent Ungwan Rimi.
The complainants therefore urged the EFCC and police to investigate the stated allegations as contained in the petition, and do all that it required in the circumstances to safeguard Federal Government properties in Kaduna. In his response to the allegations via a phone conversation, Abdulrahman Tanko Usman, said: “I am not in the position to respond to the allegations. Your questions should be directed to the management of the Kaduna Polytechnic, since the properties in question belongs to the Kaduna Polytechnic.”