{News} See How Former Governor Alamieyeseigha’s N2.8b Hotel Rots Away In Abuja.
Almost seven years after the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) handed over the N2.8billion Chelsea Hotel to
the government of Bayelsa State, the hitherto money-spinning edifice is
rotting away in Abuja.
The hotel was seized from the state’s first civilian governor, the
late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. A Federal High Court, Lagos in 2007
ordered the forfeiture of the hotel by Alamieyeseigha after the
ex-governor was sentenced for corruption.
Besides the hotel, the EFCC sold other Alamieyeseigha assets in
Nigeria and realised N3, 128, 230, 294.83billion; $441,000; E7, 000 and
£2,000.
The money was remitted to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in accordance with the law, for onward delivery to the state government as ordered by the court.
The money was remitted to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in accordance with the law, for onward delivery to the state government as ordered by the court.
Former EFCC Chairman Mrs. Farida Waziri on September 7, 2009 handed
over the hotel to ex-Governor Timipreye Sylva in Abuja. The thinking was
that it would be a source of revenue for the state.
Seven years after the asset was returned to the state government, the
hotel has become a haven for miscreants, men of the underworld, rodents
and reptiles.
Shady activities are being perpetrated at the abandoned hotel, which
poses danger to some shopping malls and banks in the Central Business
District of Abuja.
Some of the miscreants have stripped the hotel of vital materials, which has no security.
An EFCC source, who spoke in confidence, said: “As at the time we
handed over the hotel, in 2009, the asset was worth N2.8billion. We
returned the hotel to Bayelsa State with another asset at No. 2
Marscibit Street, Off Aminu Kano Crescent Wuse II Abuja which was valued
at N210million.
We took a step further by instructing Diya Fatimilehin and Co.,
former managers of the hotel to provide the state with detailed
inventory of assets of the hotel.”
“It is unfortunate that nothing has been done in the last seven
years. The land where the hotel is sited attracts either up to
N800million to N1billion in Abuja. Yet the asset is allowed to lie
fallow
“To the source, the fate of the once throwing hotel is a typical case
of how the anti-graft war is being “frustrated and rendered
meaningless”
“A former Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu worked day and night to
bring Alamieyeseigha to justice but the efforts have come to naught,” he
said.
Asked if the EFCC can query the state government on why the hotel has
been abandoned, the source said: “Well, there is not much we can do
because we have done our best.
“The state’s funds were looted and used to buy the hotel; we traced
the loot and recovered the assets. It is left to the state to live up to
its pledge to make judicious use of the asset or sell it.
“We have been expecting a status report from Bayelsa State on how it
has spent the recovered funds and the utilisation of the returned
assets.”
The Nation
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