One of the seized landed property belonging to a former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, has become a blessing of sorts to a number of homeless people, DailyPost can authoritatively report.
The uncompleted building, a two-storey, sitting on two plots of land, is located along Peter Odili road, Trans Amadi , Port-Harcourt, the Rivers state capital.
Surrounded by overgrown weed, the now-abandoned project looks as though the plan was to stretch it to a three-storey before nemesis caught up with its financier.
The occupants however refused to offer DailyPost any information on the owner of the building and who authorized their stay in the shelter.
“All these news people don (have) come again”, a visibly angry nursing mother charged at our reporter.
But a resident living in the nieghbourhood, told DailyPost that perhaps a smart fellow, under the guise of “caretaker”, might have rented out the place to the families.
“This place was seized from Tafa (Balogun). It was one of his investments from the loot. It is sad that things like this continue to happen. People steal money as if they will take it to the grave so as to spend in a supposed afterlife.
“We used to see some people come around here some years back. Our thinking was they were estate valuers contracted by government. But since then, this place has remained like this; no buy, no take over. Nothing!,” he fumed.
A tour of the compound, under probing eyes of mostly housewives and little kids, shows a probably forgotten asset lying in waste.
Clothes are seen spread out on ropes for heat of the scorching sun. Buckets, stoves and dishes were seen carefully arranged in front of one of the rooms.
Born August 8, 1947, Mustafa Adebayo Balogun was disgraced out of office during President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, after facts emerged about how he swindled the Force, using fictitious names and companies to divert funds into private accounts.
His prosecution revealed numerous fraudulent acts and shocking scheme he deployed in defrauding a vital government organ he not only devoted three decades of his life, but reached its pinnacle.
A final ruling confiscated all assets traced to him in places such as Lagos, Rivers, Osun (his home state) and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
Balogun, who joined the Force in May 1973, served as police Commissioner in Delta, Rivers and Abia States. He was the IGP from March 2002 to January 2005 after succeeding Mr. Musiliu Smith.
Succeeded by Mr. Sunday Ehindero, the Ila-Orogun indigene has since maintained a low profile.
In 2012, news of how about 400 cars, cash, private jets, mansions, lands, companies et al., seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), from suspects including Balogun, ex-governors and prominent individuals rot away drew widespread condemnation.
Under normal circumstance, cars, landed property, shares, bank accounts, etc., seized under the Assets Forfeiture Order, are handed over to professional property managers, who in turn use same to generate revenue for the Federal Government.
A report of the Anti-Fraud Unit submitted to the commission showed that between 2003 and 2010, the EFCC had seized 203 mansions from Politically Exposed Persons, including 15 ex-governors from 46 Forfeiture Court Orders.
The landed property, monies and business concerns were valued at N2trillion. This included 238 bank accounts worth over N500billion, 320 million units of shares in blue-chip companies, 18 firms and 28 plots of land.
Others are 43 vehicles, three fuel stations, four hotels, two warehouses, four shopping complexes, five schools, two bakeries and three estates.
Ex-governors including Lucky Igbinedion (Edo); Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti); Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia); Rasheed Ladoja (Oyo); Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu); Boni Haruna (Adamawa); Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto); Joshua Dariye (Plateau); Saminu Turaki (Jigawa) and now convicted James Ibori (Delta), all have confiscated assets with the EFCC.
Only on Monday, the House of Representatives accused the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Nigeria Customs Service and office of Nigeria’s Accountant General, of deliberate attempts to derail investigation into the over N2 trillion worth of seized and recovered assets by the EFCC since its creation.
The House had in July, passed a resolution which mandated its committee on drugs, narcotics and financial crimes to carry out an investigative inquiry into the matter.
The committee, headed by Jagaba Adams Jagaba (PDP, Kaduna), said all the relevant government agencies had continued to withhold necessary nformation.
“This is not only shocking and unfortunate but highly disappointing coming from an agency set up by an Act of the National Assembly to fight corruption.” he said.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the committee is not happy and will not hesitate to invoke the powers conferred on it by the constitution to the fullest to compel the aforementioned agencies to comply,” Jagaba threatened.
It would be recalled that former chairpersons of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu and Farida Waziri; Managing Director of Assets Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, Mustafa Chike-Obi and Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Lamido Sanusi, shunned the investigative two-day hearing called by the legislators.
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