Kwara state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has directed the immediate suspension of all officials named in alleged extortion of farmers in the state’s Ministry of Agriculture through the sale of unauthorised registration forms.
Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaiye, announced this in a statement Wednesday. He said the government at no time approved the sale of any forms to register farmers and found it strange that some officials could ever do such a thing to poor farmers.
The government, however, did not disclose the names of those alleged.
“In the light of the development, we wish to state the following: That neither the Governor nor the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development at any time approved the sale of forms to anyone, including farmers, in the guise of whatever scheme or census for farmers.
“That preliminary in-house finding has been made and it suggested clear wrongdoings. The Head of Service has accordingly been directed to suspend all the affected officials, including the permanent secretary of the ministry. This is to send the signal that such misconduct will not be condoned by the governor.”
He called on the anti-graft agency, EFCC, to investigate and prosecute the offenders.
“That we call on the EFCC to immediately step in to investigate and prosecute anyone found guilty of ripping off the poor farmers, thus making it clear that his administration will never tolerate such behaviours under whatever guise.”
