by Chukwu Obi
Fire has gutted Federal Mortgage Bank building at Mamman Kontagora house, located in Broad street, Lagos.
According to available information, the raging inferno has already gutted 7 floors of the building. Fire Service men have just arrived to fight the inferno.
Eyewitness in Broad street suspect foul play, a source who doesn’t want his name in print who spoke to us said “It is strange that the fire affects the Mortgage building”.
He doubts that it was a coincidence that the fire burnt almost all the official documents in the bank.
The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) was established in 1956, known then as the Nigerian Building Society (NBS), a joint venture of the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the Federal and Eastern Governments of Nigeria.
Following the introduction of the Indigenisation Policy, the Federal Government, by Indigenisation Act 1973, undertook 100 percent ownership acquisition of the NBS and consequently renamed it the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).
With the election of Muhammadu Buhari, most Ministries and Federal agencies being governed by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for 16 years are now writing down their hand over notes..
FMBN is also expected to submit a handover of all their activities to the incoming government of Buhari, it is hoped that the fire outbreak is not an attempt for a cover up.
Buhari, a former dictator is feared by many corrupt officials, as he’s known for sending thieves to Jail, he has a corruption free track record.
A Security personal at the building when questioned if classified documents are destroyed, he said. “Press men for now i cannot say anything, you can see fire service trying to put the fire out and of course documents should be affected with the magnitude of the fire”.
It is however not clear what led to the fire, but our correspondent is still at the Premises scooping for more news..
Buhari doesn’t have a corruption free track record. When he was MD of NNPC in the 70s, $2.8 billion was found to be missing. The money was traced to his London bank account. When he got wind of the possibility of being arrested, he staged a coup and saked the Shagari government and sent soldiers to ransack the Senate which did the investigation. Before he did this, Senator Saraki had already made known this discovery to Nigerians on NTA. The journalist was sacked. She challenged her sack in court and won.
In 1985 when IBB overthrew Buhari, he jailed him for 2 years for corruption. In fact, corruption was the reason for the ouster of the Buhari government.
When Buhari was head of Petroleum Trust Fund in the 90s under the most corrupt military dictactor in Nigeria’s history, Sani Abacha, N45 billion was found to be missing from the fund.
Buhari is not corruption free. He just pretends to be.
that will not be an excuse, even if the official file were burned. there must be a database in organization like this.