Once bitten, twice shy. This is what Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, is saying, using other words. He declared in his country home, Daura, in Katsina state, that all unclaimed looted assets including landed property recovered by the federal government would be auctioned. The proceeds would be deposited into the government’s treasury.
The President announced the policy decision while receiving members of Daura Emirate coalition who paid him a condolence visit at his country home. President Buhari stated that many of those who looted the common treasury were now denying ownership of what they stole, simply because the assets had been recovered across the country.
The Nigerian leader recalled that he had seen that kind of scenario before and so was not surprised that it is now being repeated. In his words, “Some years back, one of my mates in primary school who worked at a cottage company before his demise predicted that we will come to a situation when looters will deny their property in Nigeria. So, for a civil servant who owns ten houses in Nigeria and abroad, how come? The more you show that person the recovered property, the more he will swear that they do not belong to him. You know we are still following due process, you know in a democracy, you have to follow due process and respect the rule of law.
He expatiated further, “If you are following, you will hear that some of these looters were arrested, and for those who deny their loots, then instead of what happened before, this time around we will sell those stolen property and the proceeds will be deposited in government treasury. If the money is in the government treasury I will see who will come back after we leave office to reclaim it”.
President Buhari, who left Abuja at the weekend for a four-day private visit to some Northern states, also pledged that the federal government would continue to make fertilizer and other farm inputs available to bona fide farmers to sustain the successes they recorded in the previous farming seasons. The Nigerian leader has since returned to Abuja after the trip.
