Seized Alamieyeseigha’s N2.8b hotel rots away in Abuja
After almost seven years since the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission seized all the assets of the former Governor of Bayelsa, late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and handed his hotel over to the state government, the hotel is said to be rotting away in Abuja.
A Federal High Court, Lagos in 2007 took over the hotel from Alamieyeseigha after the ex-governor was sentenced for corruption.
The hotel, along with other assets were recovered. The EFCC sold the assets leaving the hotel and the money gotten amounted to N3,128,230,249.83 billion; $441,000; 7, 000 and £2,000.
The money was remitted to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in accordance with the law, for onward delivery to the state government as ordered by the court.
The hotel was handed over to the ex-Governor Timpreye Sylva in Abuja by the former EFCC chairman Mrs. Frida Waziri. The goal was that the hotel will be a source of revenue for the state however this is not the case as the hotel is patronised by no other creature but reptiles.
The hotel is said to be the haven for shady deals and hoodlums, this in return poses danger to some shopping malls and banks in the Central Business District of Abuja.
There is not much left in the hotel as it has been striped of materials by the hoodlums.
According to a source from the EFCC, the hotel was worth N2.8billion as at the time it was handed over in 2009. The managers of the hotel were instructed to provide the state with detailed inventory of assets of the hotel.
‘It is unfortunate that nothing has been done in the last seven years. The land where the hotel is sited attracts either up to N800million to N1billion in Abuja. Yet the asset is allowed to lie fallow. The fate of the once throwing hotel is a typical case of how the anti-graft war is being ‘frustrated and rendered meaningless,’ he said.
The EFCC made it clear that they have done their part by recovering the assest and the state should live up to its responsibilities and make good use of the hotel.
