As
deep investigations continue over the role of an ex minister in a N1tn
Abuja land scam, the EFCC has dealt the man a brutal blow.
Senator Bala Mohammed
At least 12 properties have been seized from a former Minister of
the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed, and his son,
Shamsudeen Bala.
According to The Punch, the properties were seized by The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
It was learnt on Tuesday that the seizures were part of
investigations into a controversial land swap deal carried out by the
minister to the tune of N1tn between 2010 and 2015.
“So far, we have seized about 12 properties from Bala Mohammed
and his son, who he used in buying many properties. However, this is
just a tip of the iceberg because we found out that there are still a
lot of properties to be recovered’’, a source in the EFCC told our correspondent on Tuesday.
“After investigations, we will arraign Bala (ex-minister)
before an FCT High Court while his son will be arraigned before a
Federal High Court anytime from now, the source added.”
Mohammed, who has been in EFCC custody for over six weeks, is
alleged to have entered into some controversial land deals and allegedly
gave some landed properties to his cronies for the construction of
malls.
The source said, “We have evidence that the ex-minister
diverted funds from Internally Generated Revenue. He also gave land
arbitrarily to friends without following due process. Some of the land
had even been allocated to other people but seized from them unjustly.”
Already, the commission has grilled a former Chairman of Skye Bank,
Tunde Ayeni, who was also the Chairman of ASO Savings & Loans Plc
over the purchase of the N7.5bn ASO Grove Estate at the Maitama area of
Abuja by the bank through the ex-minister.
The Punch reports that a detective in the EFCC alleged that the
former minister was also a front for Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the wife of
ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
Mohammed became very close to the Jonathan family in 2009 when he
called for the adoption of the doctrine of necessity when the then
President Umaru Yar’Adua was critically ill and unable to perform his
functions as President.
It was through this process that Yar’Adua was declared
incapacitated and paved the way for the then Vice-President Jonathan to
become the acting President and later President.
As FCT minister, Mohammed revoked the 1.84 hectares of land
allocated to Yar’Adua’s wife, which was meant for her organisation,
Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation.
The ex-minister then allocated the land to Patience for the
construction of African First Ladies’ Peace Mission’s secretariat,
stating that the move was in the interest of the public.
An FCT High Court, however, described the land grab as illegal and returned it to Mrs. Yar’Adua.
A source at the EFCC, however, said there was evidence to show that
the ex-minister had given other plots of land to Patience in a similar
fashion.
“We have evidence to show that Bala Mohammed was a front for
Patience Jonathan. He abused his position and used it to allocate land
to her as well. Patience has several business interests in Abuja,
including a hotel,” a source stated.
Patience has since written a petition to the House of Representatives, accusing the EFCC of harassing her and her associates.
In an interview with journalists in 2015, the ex-minister denied
abusing his office, stating that he was loyal to the Jonathan family and
was only helping Patience with her African First Ladies’ Peace
Mission’s project by providing her with free land.
He had said, “People say all sorts of things about my family:
that I have stolen so and so billions; I have given plots of land to the
first lady. People are always insinuating that the first lady has so
much in the FCT and they are all lies.
“Most people talk this way because they want to see a situation
to cause friction; an example is what happened with our support of the
First Lady Mission.
“It is an African Union initiative. It is not personal to the
first lady, it is a global initiative, but some highly-placed Nigerians
were insinuating that we were taking FCT resources to service the first
lady. It is not so.”
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