The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, ICPC, said it had confiscated about 61 houses from Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, officers.
The ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta, disclosed this before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee probing alleged land swap, allocations and racketeering in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. Other seizures, he said, included 45 plots of land at different locations within the FCT and a duplex while several bank accounts used for the illegal land deal had been traced and frozen.
Nta added that the 61 houses seized from the NSCDC top officials made up of 40 number of threebedroom flats, 20 number of two-bedroom flats and a duplex while official letters had been written to the appropriate land authorities on the status of the seized property and publication made in national dailies for public to know so as not to fall victims of illegal dealings again.
He said ICPC embarked on the investigation following a formal complaint from the Commandant General of the NSCDC, Dr. Ade Abolurin, who personally visited him on May 15 and said some of the officials of the Corps were involved in selling land illegally to unsuspecting members of the public in the name of the NSCDC under a non-existing Housing Estate Scheme in Abuja and Nassarawa State. Abolurin, according to Nta, demanded full investigation into the scam with a view to getting to the root of the matter.
The ICPC chairman said a particular company, Danime Nigeria Limited, through which the NSCDC officials carried out the illegal deals, was not among the six companies investigated.
He, however, promised to commence another round of investigation on it based on the new information. Nta said all the interrogated officers had been released on administrative bail except one who was on the run.
He said investigation had shown that the affected officers used the NSCDC's Cooperative Society to swindle members of the public who thought it was a genuine transaction since it involved the name of the Corps.
Nta said the transactions took place within the premises of the FCT Command of the Corps located at Gudu District and, according to him, the officers always wear NSCDC uniform during such illegal transactions.
On whether the NSCDC as an organisation was culpable or not, Nta said investigation so far showed that Abolurin knew nothing about the deals until he got wind of it and promptly reported to the ICPC for an independent investigation.
The ICPC chairman said that it was a rare occurrence for any public officer or head of any organisation to take such an action against the officers of his own organisation.