October 31, (THEWILL) – The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has commended the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for recovering 301 houses from two public officers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
CACOL, in a statement issued by the anti-graft coalition’s Director of Administration and Programmes, Tola Oresanwo, on behalf of its chairman, Mr Debo Adeniran, said, “It would be recalled that the Chairman of ICPC, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, at the inauguration of the House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee on Investigation of the Operations of Real Estate Developers, said the agency recovered 301 houses from two public officers in the (FCT). “The ICPC chairman said that while 241 buildings were recovered from one of the suspects at different locations within the FCT, the remaining 60 were recovered on a large expanse of land at another location.
“We commend Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, for recovering these properties from the public officers concerned. It is pathetic that it is now a norm for unscrupulous civil servants to amass huge wealth, which they cannot account for, and use the fund to acquire choice properties in different parts of the country and even abroad”.
CACOL described the ICPC boss’s revelation as an indication that corruption had berthed among public officials and personal aggrandisement had been placed above service to the society.
The statement noted that the development showed that some public officials, who were entrusted with funds meant to carry out specific assignments, could no longer be trusted.
CACOL also demanded that the names of the accused officials be made public and necessary charges be brought against them in the court of law.
“This will serve as a deterrent to others. It is also important to devise preventive strategies that will make it difficult for civil servants to steal public funds. The government should not fold its arms and allow unscrupulous public officials to run the various parastatals of government in their care aground while illegally enriching their private purses,” the statement concluded.
