Defence Corps distance self from alleged Abuja land racketeering

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has distance itself from involvement in land racketeering in FCT and Nasarawa State.

The land racketeering led to the seizure of 61 houses and 45 plots of land from its officials by the ICPC.

This is contained in a statement signed by the corps' Public Relations Officer, Mr Emmanuel Okeh, on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to the statement, the Management of the NSCDC has absolved itself of any complicity in land scam.

“The NSCDC Commandant General, Dr Ade Abolurin, has emphasised for the umpteenth time that the organisation is not involved in sales of land.

“The NSCDC did not at any point in time delegate persons, organisations, or agents to do so on its behalf,'' the statement said.

According to the statement, the corps does not have land for sale neither does it have any housing estate in its name.

It quoted Abolurin as saying that the mandate of the corps as a paramilitary agency of government is to protect and safeguard the critical infrastructure of government and the country's national assets.

It listed the assets to include petroleum pipelines, power transmission equipment and telecommunication installations across the country among others.

“The corps therefore, does not have any business with the purported land sales and officers who are culpable must be sanctioned according to the law.

“The corps will like to make it unequivocally clear that the property seized by the ICPC does not belong to NSCDC but rather to some indicted officers who are currently under investigations,'' Abolurin said.

Abolurin said that the prosecution of the affected officers by the ICPC had commenced.

He said that the seized properties were assumed to be acquired from the proceeds of the illegal land sales by the scammers.

The commandant general said that upon the discovery of the illicit practice, he personally reported the case to the ICPC for further investigations.