The Director-General of the National Council for Art and Culture, NCAC, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe on Friday attributed his current travails to his stiff resistance to allow an individual to take control of the disputed multi-billion naira landed property of the Council, housing its Art and Craft village in Abuja.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja on his committal to prison by an Abuja Court on Thursday over the matter, Runsewe disclosed that the property, the Art and Craft village (Opposite Abuja Sheraton) valued at N9.8 billion is the reason behind why some people wanted him hounded into jail and removed from office because he refused to dance to their tunes.
According to him, “before my arrival as the Director-General of the Council, the government property was turned into a drug den, a holiday and a rented house for hooligans and criminals, a depot for illegal arms and sundry activities.
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“These illegal acts turned the place to security threat not only to Abuja residents but to foreigners who engage in early hours exercises through the streets in the morning and were molested by criminals from the premises.
“So, I wonder why some people are bent on converting government property to a haven of inappropriate engagement, hence the Police has to close down the place.
“The Art and Craft Village belongs to the Federal Government of Nigeria, it does not belong to me but to the Nigerian people, so I will be failing in my duties as public officer and appointee of government if I cannot protect government property to which I was mandated to oversee as the DG of the Council.
Otunba Runsewe who said that he had faced several battles on the village land explained that the land grabbers were out to ease him out since all tactics and machinations to compromise him had failed, saying they want to bring another person who would look another side to allow them to hold on to the property.
According to him, “Gentlemen of the Press, have you ever seen anybody throwing stones at unripe mangoes?, the answer is no, you can only throw stones at the ripped ones, the Art and Craft village is ripped now, we at the point of taking over the place and they are now throwing stones at Runsewe.
“That Art and Craft village is capable of creating jobs for over 300 Nigerian people and only one individual without the necessary documents, certificate of occupancy wants to grab it, prosperity will not forgive me if I allowed that dirty deal to go unchallenged which is exactly what we are doing now”.
Otunba Runsewe said that he had to clear the air on the trending issues in order to “stem the tide of negative reactions and to rescue Nigerians that all hands must be on deck to protect the interest of any property that belongs to Nigeria and ensure that they are not misapplied or misplaced.”
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