A white paper com­mittee has urged Governor AbdulRah­man AbdulRazaq of Kwara State to prosecute former governor of the state, Bukola Saraki; his successor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and other former government officials over their activities while in office.

A statement by Rafiu Aja­kaye, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, said chairman of the White Paper Panel on the unlawful sales of government’s properties from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2019, Hussein Buhari, said this during the submission of the report.

He said the former gover­nors and many of their aides have questions to answer on how public properties and shares were sold.

Buhari said none of these of­ficials honoured the invitations for them to clear the air on the deals, and said the administra­tion should prosecute them as a matter of justice — a request the governor said has been not­ed for action.

“The committee swung into action immediately it was inau­gurated and went through the report of the Judicial Commis­sion of Inquiry on the sales of Kwara State Government Assets between May 1999 and May 2019. There are so many rots perpetrated by the past governments especially in the 16 years before 2019.

“For instance, the rots on Shonga Farms, Satellite Mo­tel, and our properties in Ka­duna, Abuja and Lagos were simply inconceivable. In fact, Kwara State is now heavily indebted to some people be­cause the past governments mismanaged our properties. I just wish Governor Abdul­Rahman AbdulRazaq will have the courage and political will to implement the report so that everybody found wanting will be brought to book. And the Electoral Act is very clear that anybody who is found guilty of mismanagement of resources be banned for 10 years from holding political office. We wish the government will accept our recommendations and set up an implementation committee.

“There are so many instanc­es where those in government before used their positions to acquire government properties in questionable circumstances. For instance, the High Court Complex in Tanke, Ilorin, they removed all the steels and allo­cated the land to themselves, they built hotels and eateries on government properties. All our houses in Kaduna have been sold. Today, apart from our liaison office, we do not have anything in Kaduna.

“Government should take them to court and prosecute them for economic sabotage and, if found guilty, the gov­ernment should ban them from holding political offices for 10 years.

“Also, some ministries, Bureau of Lands, Surveying Office and many other offices had shady deals with our land in Kwara State. So, anyone in­volved should be sanctioned and prosecuted according to the civil service rules. Even if they have retired, they should be brought to book because the connivance was too much. Look at what happened at KWTV. They sold almost all the land at KWTV to themselves. Despite the fact that you must live certain metres away from television mast, those rules were jettisoned.

“Also, Noktel Hotel is built right on top of aquifer which supplies water to Agba Dam, Ilorin. What we observed is unbelievable. So, for the hotel, we recommend outright demo­lition of it. Because they knew what they were doing. They have now blocked water from flowing to the dam.”