A pressure group, Stability and Integrity Forum (KSIF), has said there was no deal between former Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki, and the operators of the Shonga Integrated Farms project being operated by Zimbabwean farmers for commercial agriculture in the state.
The group’s chairman, Barrister Mamud Kunle Usman, made the clarification in a press statement in Abuja.
Investigation revealed that the Shonga Farms project, an initiative of the Bukola Saraki administration to enhance the growth of commercial farming and actualise its rural integrated development programme started in 2005.
The farm project was a consortium between the Kwara state government, the Zimbabwean farmers and some Nigerian banks. It has since transformed into Country Bird Holdings, a consortium of integrated poultry and stock feed business operations across some African countries.
Barrister Usman said the clarification became necessary following an alleged plot by the Kwara state government to instigate the Songa community leaders into filing a lawsuit against the state government over the ownership and control of the land on which the Shonga Farms was located.
He alleged that the motive was to rubbish the progress already recorded by the farmers in the last 15 years that the Shonga Farms project was initiated by the Saraki administration and ultimately, ridicule the legacy of the former governor.
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He said: “In a very devious game aimed at hitting at past governments in the state, particularly the ones headed by former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed, Abdulrahman had heavily induced the community leaders who are to be represented in court by a Lagos-based Senior Advocate.
“Also, the forum gathered from reliable sources that the governor will also underwrite the cost of litigation on behalf of the Shonga community leaders and the community leaders who have equally being intimidated and coerced by the Governor are now being prepped in readiness for the commencement of the suit.”
The group further claimed that the Kwara State government decided on this litigation plot having reached a dead end on the false narrative that Senator Saraki appropriated the project to himself.
“The forum learnt that Abdulrazaq resorted to the ‘round-trip litigation method’ following his discovery that contrary to his claims during the electioneering period that the project was a fraud and that it had been appropriated by Saraki and his family, the initiative was a solid one which had turned Shonga around with employment opportunities, integrated farming and revenue yields for both the investors and the government.
“The KSIF hereby advised Governor Abdulrazaq to desist from this game of blackmail and stop the move that may destroy a project that has brought so much development and employment to Kwara State.
“It is clear that Shonga Farms is a good project and is not owned by the Sarakis. The present government should seek to maximise the benefit that Kwara State and its people can derive from it.”