Several plots of land allocated in the 1980s for the construction of courtrooms in Ilorin, Kwara State, were sold off by former Governors Bukola Saraki and Abdulfatah Ahmed without following due process, state government officials have testified before a panel.
Messrs Saraki and Ahmed governed the state for eight years each from 2003 to 2019.
In August, the state government began a probe into the sale and unlawful acquisition of government properties in the state between May 29, 1999, and May 29, 2019.
The Kwara State Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the Sales of Government Assets is chaired by a retired judge, Olabanji Orilonishe.
At the sitting of the panel on Wednesday, the Director-General of the Bureau of Land, Bolaji Edun, testified that some plots of land in Tanke area of Ilorin originally allocated to the state judiciary were gradually sold off from 2009.
However, he said the government did not first revoke the original allocations in line with the law before selling off the land.
He said this in response to a petition filed before the panel by the state judiciary which is seeking the restoration of the land, citing a shortage of courtrooms in the state capital.
Mr Edun said the earliest reallocation of the affected parcels of land was made in 2009 and the issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) started in 2013.
However, the Bureau of Lands said it could not find the C of O of one of the new allottees, Candidate Hotel, in its record.
