By EMMANUEL SAMUEL, YOLA
The Adamawa State Governor, Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, vowed to reclaim parcels of government land wrongly sold off by the immediate past administration in the state.
The governor, who frowned on the sale of lands belonging to the government by the former governor Bindow administration, said that he would revoke the agreements on such landed properties.
Fintiri made the disclosure at a press conference addressed on his behalf by his Director of Press and Communications, Mr. Solomon Kumanga, at the Government House on Friday.
He described those who purchased the landed properties as “psychiatric patients,” who needed to visit the hospital, adding, “How can a reasonable person build a hotel or night club near a girls’ school?”
Governor Fintiri has already directed that such structures be demolished and that even those scattered in other towns be equally demolished, if not properly located.
He also announced that government has equally reduced the cost of rent in the Jimeta Modern Market by 50per cent and lamented that 70 per cent of shops owned by individuals had yet to be paid for.
Speaking on crime rate in the state, the DG Communications said the quest to make Adamawa State work again had started in earnest and yielding the desired impact and results.
“Primarily, we are on course in addressing the major security challenges bedeviling the state and so far, we have moved against kidnappers and the Shilla Boys menace,” he stressed.
According to the spokesman to the governor, within three days of the expiration of the deadline Fintiri initially gave criminal elements in the state, 68 kidnappers and 252 Shilla boys were arrested.
“More than 111 others have voluntarily surrendered while the rest are on the run with his Excellency directing security agencies to cast their dragnets very wide and not allow the criminals to escape,” he said.
On farmers and herders, the government said it had already initiated a dialogue aimed at ending the incessant disturbances between them, especially in the southern parts of the state.
“In addition, a law to impose harsh punishment on all categories of criminals terrorizing the state is before the State Assembly so as to provide the necessary legal bite,” he said.
