Akpabio plotting to tamper with my assets files at CCB - Ekpenyong

The Senator-elect for Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District (Akwa Ibom North-West), Dr. Chris Ekpenyong, has alerted security agencies, alleging former governor Godswill Akpabio, was conniving with official of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to tamper with his asset declaration forms.

Speaking in an interview in Uyo, the state capital alleged that “Akpabio has paid an official of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), a senior Director in-charge of intelligence and investigation to tamper with my asset declaration forms”.

“I have it on good authority that Akpabio, having failed the election with no hope for him at the tribunal, has gone as far as bribing that CCB Director from Kebbi state to search the file I submitted when I was the Deputy Governor between 1999 and 2005 and the one I submitted before the election in 2015.

“He has gone to the CCB to compel them to launch investigation against me since he could not as usual bribe his way through the election petition tribunal.

“So I want to inform the security agencies to hold Akpabio and that CCB Director from Kebbi state responsible should they hack into the CCB vault to remove the documents in order to manipulate the contents against what I submitted.

“I am the one that submitted the documents and I have the photocopies of my asset declaration forms, so I want the security agencies to take note of this and investigate this allegation to establish the truth.

He told security operatives and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe into Akpabio’s record between 2002, when he became a Commissioner and 2015 when he left the state’s political space as governor “to ascertain the assets he acquired match his legitimate earnings”

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What is Land Banking?

The name implies almost exactly what it is. Rather than putting cash into a savings account (where it will earn a maximum of 1% interest every year) or the stock market (which has become increasingly unpredictable in recent years), some entrepreneurs have taken an alternative approach by acquiring LAND and in doing so, they have chosen to park their cash in a tangible, fixed asset – one that cannot be broken, stolen or destroyed.

Vacant land gets ignored by most new investors because let's be honest – it just doesn't sound that exciting. Unfortunately, this causes most people to overlook a lot of the advantages that land has over traditional real estate investments (e.g. – houses, apartment buildings, commercial properties, etc.). Unlike most residential and commercial buildings, land costs virtually nothing to own… no utility payments, no tenant problems, no termite infestations, no leaky faucets, no broken toilets (and if you buy it the way I do), no mortgage payments.

Think about it… you can buy a piece of vacant land today, walk away from it for 10 years and when you come back,nothing will have changed. Can you think of a safer investment?

And think about the economics of land…   this is a resource with a supply that is always going down (after all, they aren't making any more of it) and a demand that is constantly on the rise. Given the value proposition that comes with owning land, I often find myself scratching my head and wondering“Why aren't more investors involved with this??”

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Definition of Land speculation

Land speculation is a financial activity that involves the purchase of real estate with the hope that the price will increase. Most land purchases can be better referred to as real estate investment, since land tends to appreciate in value over time due to factors such as scarcity. Speculating on land typically involves the purchase of real estate that may lose value, and often refers to activities that took place in the early history of the United States. As there were vast expanses of public land available throughout much of the the history of the United States, land speculators sometimes bought up large parcels with the specific intent of withholding them from the market. This very act of land speculation could drive prices up, but sometimes had detrimental effects as well.

Real estate is typically a valuable and stable commodity, so purchasing land is not often thought of as speculation. If an investor does the proper research to understand the local market, a reasonable expectation of return can be obtained. Land speculation typically involves risky purchases, either due to a lack of information or an inherently unstable situation. Modern land speculation may occur if an individual purchases land without doing the proper research or buys inexpensive property that he expects to appreciate rapidly due to external forces.
Activities such as these can result in an overall loss of money, so they can be seen as speculative.

Historical land speculation has typically occurred when large amounts of land became available for private purchase. This type of situation has happened in the United States several times, beginning with original colonization of America by the British. Many colonists purchased extensive tracts of land on the speculation that they might be able to derive income from the purchases. In some cases these land purchases would be nullified by disagreements between colonies, or in later cases between states, and the speculator would be left with nothing.

During the westward expansion of the United States, more public land was opened to private speculation. Some attempts were made by the government to reign in potentially harmful speculative behaviors, such as homestead acts that allowed tracts to be granted to individuals that actually occupied them. Even after such laws were enacted, land speculators still purchased large quantities of land to intentionally withhold from the market. This sometimes resulted in great profits for the speculator, though in many cases the land would simply go unused.

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