The insatiable greed of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was exposed on Thursday as a commission set up by the Ogun State government revealed that he was fraudulently allocated 2,250 hectares of land by the immediate past Governor of the state, Mr. Gbenga Daniel.
That allocation will now be cancelled.
Obasanjo, who already owns thousands of hectares of land throughout the state, both developed and undeveloped, was allocated the land by Mr. Daniel in Soseri village.
Mr. Daniel, no slouch in the greed department, helped himself to the spoils of office by awarding 100 hectares to a privately owned company, K&F Daniels Ltd, at Oke Odan.
He will also lose that allocation, among others.
These decisions follow the state government’s acceptance of the recommendation of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Land Allocations, Acquisitions, Sales and Concessions of Government Properties and Administration of Land Policies, Rules and Regulations Between January 2004 and May 29, 2011 and Other Matters Connected.
The commission recommended that all the agricultural land allocations of state property made in Ogun State between January 2004 and May 29, 2011 be cancelled.
Following the recommendation, the government has also revoked the allocation of land to Compass Newspaper, which is owned by Mr. Daniel.
The panel held that “the allocation made to this company at such gross under-value and the issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) to it before it paid any money for the land, were wrongful acts done contrary to established procedure and not in the public interest, and should therefore not be allowed to stand.”
It was also discovered that Daniel’s company, Western Publishing Company, got its C of O before it even paid for the land upon which its headquarters was built.
The C of O, numbered 025305 and registered as 12/12/676, was issued to the company on the 10th of March, 2008, when it had not paid for the land.
“It was stated that the price of the land as at the time it was bought was N24m, whereas Mr. Daniel merely paid N4m after he had signed the C of O for his company,” and the commission recommended that both the allocation and the Certificate of Occupancy be cancelled.
Among those who benefited from the last-minute gift-giving of land by Daniel were some of his former commissioners like Mrs. Folake Marcus-Bello (20 hectares), Lekan Bello (20 hectares) and Kehinde Sogunle (15 hectares).
source: saharareporters
A summary / comparison of the above, posted on Nairaland says:
Some perspective…
2500 hectares = 25 km² = 9.65255 mi²
9.65 square miles
? 
City of Sydney – 9.5 sq mile – Popn 182,226
Newark,New Jersey- 11.46 sq miles – popn 277,140
Pasay – 7.34 sq miles – popn 403,064 back in 2007
Manila – 14 sq miles – popn 1,660,714
City of Melbourne – 14 sq. miles
Lyon, France – 18.5 sq. miles – popn 483,000
Manhattan – 23 sq. miles
Miami FL – 35.68 sq. miles
Conclusion: Baba Obas awarded himself 9.65km2 almost equal in size or larger than some first class cities in the world!
David C. Amakor
July 21, 2012
great kudos to the great governor of ogun state. Had he not done this, time and fate wud also had. This is act of selflessness. If Nigeria go on producing this kind of governor, it’s image will soon be reportrayed outside the world.