The Kebbi State Ministry of Lands and Housing has ordered that staff members involved in illegal land grabbing and selling be queried and suspended indefinitely to allow for proper investigation into the matter.

The Commissioner for the ministry, Muhammad Dangi-Juli, made this known at a news briefing in his office in Birnin Kebbi on Thursday.

He said that land grabbing and issuance of fake documents remained a serious challenge facing the ministry in the state.

He stated, “Unscrupulous persons of land grabbing syndicate are doing as they wish with government and public lands making plot carve-out, which they sell to unsuspecting interesting persons in the state. Such nasty behaviour will no longer be tolerated, whoever is caught in land grabbing and speculation will face the full wrath of the law. The ministry of lands is prepared to take whatever action it deems necessary to stop the trend and eliminate the issue of fake letters of grant. I have directed the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Alhaji Abubakar Ahmad-Muhammad, to issue a query to any staff members of the ministry found involved in the illegal act and immediately suspend same from office.’’

Shading more light on the incident, Mr Ahmad-Muhammad, said that land grabbers had grossly encroached on government and public lands making series of carve-out which they sell to innocent people.

“At Aliero Quarters layout in Birnin Kebbi where a plot of land can cost between N30 million and N40 million or more, two land speculators were arrested for illegal land grabbing and sale. We are committed to exposing members of such syndicates and prosecute them before a court of law to serve as a deterrent to others.  We are also on the trail of those behind the printing of letters of grant purportedly from the ministry to resemble the genuine ones issued by the ministry. Two persons are now in our custody, while their accomplices will also be tracked down and arrested for persecution,” the permanent secretary assured.

One of the accused persons, Nafi’u Muhammad, told journalists that he was not among the syndicate, saying he was an estate agent.

“I am a buyer, I don’t sell lands, I bought the lands in question at the cost of N10 million from Nasiru Ibrahim, who claimed that the land was his father’s farmland,” he said.

The second suspect, who is also the principal suspect, Nasiru Ibrahim, alleged that all what he had been doing in land commercialisation was with the connivance of some staff members of the ministry.

“Even the letters of grant deemed to be fake were signed by a staff member called Augie,” he said.

(NAN)