The Punh newspaper has reported that in a desperate bid to raise funds ahead of February general elections, politicians seeking or sponsoring candidates for elective posts have started selling their property in major cities of the country such as Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
Investigation by Saturday PUNCH revealed that the development had crashed property market value as the politicians reduced the cost of their property by between 50 per cent and 100 per cent just to raise money for campaign.
In Rivers State, a Port Harcourt-based estate practitioner, who simply identified himself as Nonye, confirmed to one of our correspondents that many property, especially those in Old GRA, had been put up for sale by some politicians.
According to him, there has been a sharp increase in the sale of property by politicians, who ostensibly need money to woo voters for support.
He specifically said a former governor of the state sold some of his property in order to assist some politicians seeking elective positions.
According to him, the politicians’ desperation to sell their property began in August, 2014 and peaked the following month.
Nonye said, “There are many politicians who are selling their property. While some of the property have already been sold, others are still waiting to be sold. The rush to sell the property started in August and increased in October, 2014. These property are owned by politicians. The property are mostly in Old GRA and New GRA in Port Harcourt.
“One of the governorship aspirants sold one of his property while a former governor has sold about three of his houses to support a politician that is currently seeking election.
“The politicians selling their property cut across the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress.
“One of the governorship aspirants also put up his eight plots of land for sale in the Old GRA and an aspirant from Andoni Local Government Area has offered to sell a duplex in the New GRA.”
On the value of the property on sale, Nonye explained that while a two-story building could go as high as between N250m and N300m in a high-brow area like New and Old GRA, the same property could go for between N20m and N50m in other areas.
Attempt to sell real property by politicians is being experienced in major cities across the country (Credits: The Punch)
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