The Surveyor General of the Federation, Surveyor Abudulganiyu Adebomehin has dismissed accusation of selling government lands worth over N16 billion, threatening legal action to safeguard his family name.
Adebomehin was alleged to have either sold, abandoned or reallocated government lands in Ilorin, Kwara State; Imo, Kano and Ibadan in Oyo states as well as Lagos, Benue, Gombe, Enugu and Anambra states.
Responding to the allegation, Adebomehin said contrary to the claims, his office does not have the right or capacity to sell government lands.
He stated this in Abuja while interacting with Journalists in his office where he also told newsmen that all his official trips, contrary to the allegations, were duly approved.
The Surveyor General further said those raising such allegations were trying to take over his seat, even when he grew through the ranks to attain the position.
‘They claimed that I was not doing well, if I’m not doing well, this is the first time this office is promoting 30 candidates at once to various cadres. We have never had it that way before.”
He added that the allegations which started on 2022 were becoming messy coming from “one man interested in the seat of the Surveyor General of the Federation”.
Adebomehin fumed that while his personal name could be maligned without repercussions, the same could not be condoned with his family name.
He said, “That name is so precious to me. They can play with my own name, I don’t care, but nobody should call my family a stupid family. That is one thing we would like to take up, and I want to believe my family will take that up when it is time. So, you cannot just sit down and somebody decides to come and call people and say things without investigating it.”
He explained that in line with the Civil Service rule, he had written to the Head of Service, notifying of the threats to his life and job without an action taken on the petition.
Similarly, Adebomehin said he also petitioned the Inspector General of Police who promised to investigate the allegation, maintaining that the accusations continued without substantive evidence to back them up.
He explained, “You said there was a sale of government property, where is the receipt of sales? You said there was a sale of government property, where is the owner, where is that person that bought it?
“You’ve been saying this since 2022, this is 2024; nobody has come up to say I am in charge of this property or that property, but what really happened in the sense was that the office of Surveyor General of the federation is the biggest bride you have when it comes to land,” he said.
He explained that over time in the past, some persons have formed the habit of encroaching on government lands and later paying fines which were not commensurate with the value of such lands because of influence of top echelon.
“One of the land they claim I sold in Ilorin is part of it, where we have about four different people occupying a portion of our land and putting up a structure. And we made a complaint; yet, nothing was done.
“What they could say was that I’ve sold the land. When were the property built and if there’s sale, why not carry out further investigation on those people that are on the land; how did they come about the land and how did they become owners of those land?,” Adebomehin said.