Director-General of National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe has revealed that his refusal to sell the Arts and Craft village in Abuja to some people was behind his ordeal.
Runsewe, while speaking during a press briefing in Abuja on Friday while reacting to the court injunction against him and the NCAC over the ownership of Arts and Crafts Village, said the reason why some people wanted him hounded into jail and removed from office was that he refused to sell the village to them.
The DG revealed that the property which is worth N9.8billion said when he took over as the DG, the Arts and Craft village was a den of robbers and all forms of illegality and it took the police interference to rid the place of criminals and remove over two hundred stolen cars from the village. He said it was turned into a security threat to both Abuja residents and foreigners defeating the aim of the village.
Hea him “The Arts and craft village belong to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It does not belong to me but to the Nigerian people so I would be failing in my duties as a public officer and appointee of government if I cannot protect government property which I was mandated to oversee,” he said.
He said that the Council will not relent in its efforts to reposition the nation’s culture as well as protect the government’s property across the country.
Recall that on the 9th of January an FCT High court in Maitama convicted and sentenced the DG to jail for contempt of court.
The judgement which was given by Justice Jude Okeke in a motion from a suit filed by Ummakalif Ltd against the DG NCAC, the FCT Minister, the Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA and the Minister for Culture and Tourism over the sealing of the Arts and Craft village in Abuja.