In a bizarre discovery, the Edo State Coordinator for the Protection of Government Property, (PGP), Eugene Okolosie on Wednesday told journalists how he stumbled on a brothel inside a primary school built by suspected land grabbers.
Briefing newsmen on the activities of the agency, especially efforts at recovering government land encroached upon by land grabbers and speculators, Okolosie said the brothel located at Ujuele Primary School in Esan West Local Government Area of the state had been sealed off, while over 2,000 plots of land belonging to the government have been recovered.
The PGP Coordinator noted that so far, over 150, 000 houses were built on government land and appealed to those who want to acquire landed property to clear from the Edo Geographic Information Service, EdoGIS to avoid falling victims to the criminal activities of land grabbers and speculators.
According to Okolosie, ” A lot of government property have been encroached upon. Seventy percent of our moats have been taken over and the most affected is our public schools. In Ambrose Alli University, AAU, alone we have recovered plots of land from land grabbers.
“The community came to inform us that land grabbers forged their signatures, and we moved into action and recovered about 90 percent of the land back, including lands belonging to schools.
“For example, in Ujuele Primary School, they built a brothel inside the school, and we have sealed the brothel and some of these properties will be converted, and we are presenting discussing with the governor on the matter.
“In Iyoba, the community on their own shared the school into two parts and sold half of the school to individuals. You can imagine a food silo was sold. That again, investigation is underway and those suspected to be involved have been invited.
Okolosie revealed that the agency has received over 3, 000 petitions from communities regarding illegal acquisition of government property in the last two months and vowed to recover such properties.
He further commended Governor Okpeholo for the provision of legal counsels to the agency to ensure smooth prosecution of offenders.