HURIWA urges govt to turn ‘Emefiele’s 753 houses’ to military barracks

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has expressed unprecedented delight at the successful recovery of 753 housing units allegedly linked to former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele in Abuja.

However,  HURIWA has opposed the decision to hand over these housing assets to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development even as the Rights group canvassed that the housing assets be donated to the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to be turned into living quarters for the armed forces just as some of them be donated to surviving direct families of military combatants killed or maimed in the ongoing war on terror.

A statement signed by HURIWA’s national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko on Wednesday, said specifically, the estate, spanning 150,500 square metres, located on Plot 109, Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja, was recovered and became the federal government’s property after a court ordered its final forfeiture in December last year.

” HURIWA condemns the EFCC for persistently concealing the identity of the former top public officer who cornered public funds to erect those exotic edifices,” the statement said, just as the rights group  commended investigative journalists who reportedly uncovered the identity of the alleged erstwhile corrupt public office holder .

Reacting to the notification by the federal ministry of housing and urban development to sell the houses to the so-called members of the public, HURIWA said these houses would be sold at give-away prices to members of the All Progressives Congress and then the revenue recouped may be mismanaged for political campaigns for the second term ambition of President Tinubu.

The rights group again canvassed that the housing assets be handed over to the Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa and the ministry of Defence for the purposes of resetting/repurposing them and then converting them as living quarters for serving soldiers just as some of the units of houses should be used to resettle families of soldiers killed or maimed by Boko Haram terrorists or bandits in the North East and North West.

HURIWA said it is unfortunate that our Country is not sufficiently compensating members of the armed forces who are dying everyday to protect us from the venomous violence of Islamists and terrorists.

“Government should take steps to ensure that recovered stolen assets are not re-looted by the serving public office holders but these housing assets acquired unlawfully from stolen funds should be put to use to benefit patriotic Nigerians such as soldiers and members of the armed forces who are making the Supreme sacrifices to defend the territorial integrity of the federal Republic of Nigeria.