Kwara Govt. Gives More Insight Into Revoked Saraki Land As Elderly Women Protest

The Kwara State’s Bureau of Lands on Wednesday revealed further details surrounding the Civil Service Clinic land and its adjourning plots in Ilorin, the state capital, amid public enquiry on the status of the property recently reclaimed by the State Government.

The land was seized last week from the Saraki family by the Kwara State Government.

It was said to have been acquired by the Senate Leader in the Second Republic, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki.

However, his son, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, a former Governor of the state and ex-President of the Senate, has denounced the action of the state government, saying it was intended as an attack on the family.

This was followed by protests this week by old women who normally gathered on the seized land for monthly feeding by the Sarakis.

“The entire land was acquired in the 1970s for Overriding Public Interest and same was initially designed to host the phase II of the State Secretariat. The construction of the said State Secretariat Phase II was actually commenced and it was at superstructure level before same was abandoned,” Director General of the Bureau of Land Ibrahim Salman said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The entire land was later redesigned in the 1980s for the construction of a Civil Service Clinic, State Secretariat, and a parking lot for both the Clinic and the State Secretariat.

“The Clinic was subsequently constructed in 1982, while the remaining plots of land were conceived for the expansion of the Clinic into a full-fledged Hospital.

“The dream of the State Government was stalled when part of the land slated for the parking lot was spuriously allocated in principle to one Asa Investment for commercial purpose.

“From available records, the allocation was not based on a formal application, nor application forms filled; there was no evidence of payment for the said allocation as stipulated in the letter of allocation in principle and consequently, no right of occupancy was ever issued to the Company.

“Furthermore, in flagrant abuse of the allocation terms, the company took possession of the land and constructed what is today known as ‘Ile Arugbo’ on part of the land that was designed as parking lot and later conceived to host the expansion of the Civil Service Clinic into a full-fledged Hospital.

Salman added: “Following a resolution of the Kwara State House of Assembly mandating him to revoke/withdraw the spurious allocation, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq recently signed an instrument to reclaim the land on the ground that same was unlawfully allocated to a private Company contrary to the public purpose of its acquisition and occupied in breach of the terms of allocation.

“This (press) release is intended to state the facts on the land recently revoked/withdrawn by the state government as contained in our records.”