By Ishaq Dan-Imam, Lokoja
In a swift reaction to the press statement credited to Nigeria’s Anti-graft agency (EFCC), on a court order, forfeiting fourteen (14) properties belonging to the Kogi state government, the state government this Wednesday, denied ownership of the properties linked to it.
Reacting, the State Commissioner of Information and Communications, Mr. Kingsley Fanwo, says, “The Kogi State Government has no property that can be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria under any guise; it is a campaign of calumny taken too far.”
Mr. Fanwo urges “Nigerians and the international community to ignore the EFCC media statement as “desperate act of persecution orchestrated by some political interests to malign the person of Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello because of his political antecedents,” Fanwo, added in the statement.
The Commissioner blares out the government’s reaction thus:
“We want to state clearly here that, from what we have read in the media, not one, we witnessed; this is a forfeiture proceeding and the order is an order of interim forfeiture, which gives persons who allegedly own the properties rights to come to court to establish their ownership of the said properties. We will follow through with the courts.”
“The state government thanks Nigerians for standing by what is right and pointing out the mess that had become of the fight against corruption under Bawa’s chairmanship. we advise the public to ignore the allegation as latest naked dance in the market square; as the desperate last kicks of a dying horse,” the statement said.
