By Abiodun Jamiu

 ABDULRAHMAN Abdulrasaq, Governor of Kwara State, has set up a six-man committee to investigate the sale or unlawful acquisition of government’s properties between May 29, 1999 and May 29, 2019.

This is coming in less than 24 hours after the governor inaugurated panel to probe local government spending in the state.

Members of the committee include  Olabanji Orilonishe, a retired justice who serves as the chairman, Job Kolawole Buremoh, Isiaka AbdulKarem, Safiya Usman, Alhaji Salihu Yaru; and Muhammed Baba Orire as the secretary

While inaugurating the committee, the governor charged its members to spotlight properties of the state, including shares, stocks and bonds, that were sold or unlawfully acquired between May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2019.

He said the committee should hold public hearings involving various stakeholders, including persons who may have benefited from the sales of the properties

Abdulrazaq further charged them to scrutinise the rationale behind the sales of the properties while determining whether such sales complied with the existing guidelines, rules and regulations governing the sales of government properties

He also enjoined the panel to recommend measures to curtail unlawful sale of government properties in the future.

“Determine whether the disposal of government-owned shares, stocks and bonds were done in the best interest of the state, make recommendations in respect of — recovering the government properties wrongfully sold or disposed of, or unlawfully acquired,” he said.

“Recommend appropriate sanctions against persons involved in the wrongful disposal or unlawful acquisition of such properties; and appropriate measures to be put in place to protect government properties against indiscriminate sale, disposal or unlawful acquisition in future.”

It would be recalled that the state government in January  2020, demolished a building  belonging to  the late Olusola Saraki in Ilorin, the state capital.

The decision to revoke the late Saraki’s property was, according to the governor, due to alleged illegality in its acquisition.

He said the land was originally designated for the construction of a secretariat and parking lot of the civil service clinic, but that it was unlawfully allocated to a private firm — Asa Investments Limited — without any record of payment to the state government.

But Bukola Saraki, the late Saraki’s son and former senate president refuted the allegations, saying that his father lawfully acquired the land from the state government