The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has revoked lands linked with former President Muhammadu Buhari, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Tajudeen Abbas, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.
The revocation of the Certificate of Occupancy for non-payment affected 759 other prominent figures and organisations in Maitama II, Abuja.
This was contained in statement issued on behalf of the FCT Administration by the Special Adviser to the FCT Minister, Lere Olayinka.
In a separate publication, the Minister also threatened to revoke lands belonging to the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Kingsley Chinda; former presidents of the Senate, Iyorchia Ayu, and Ameh Ebute; the Chief Whip of the Senate, Tahir Monguno; and 610 others for outstanding fees owed to the FCTA for a certificate of occupancy not paid within two weeks.
However, reacting to the development, a former spokesperson for Buhari, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement titled “Nothing like loss of Buhari land in Abuja,” said it was not true that Buhari personally owned the land in question.
The statement read, “As with anything Buhari – and there is no surprise in this at all – there is a lot of buzz in the media on the reported seizure of a piece of land by the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, FCTA allegedly belonging to the former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“President Buhari is personally not the owner of the plot of land allocated in the name of “Muhammadu Buhari Foundation.”
“The Foundation was itself floated by some utilitarian individuals around him who, it must said, went about it lawfully with the support of several well-meaning persons.
“But they ran into a roadblock in the land department of the FCDA, which handed them an outrageous bill for issuing the certificate of occupancy, which was very high in cost and did not at all compare with the bills given to similar organizations.
“It may have been that this was not erroneous but a deliberate mistake, making the revocation of land as no surprise to anyone. As a person, the former president has a plot of land to his name in Abuja.
“When he and his cabinet members were invited to fill the forms and obtain land during his tenure in office, he returned the form without filling it, saying that he already had a plot of land in the FCT, that those who did not have should be given. He, therefore, turned down the offer.
“So please let all those jumping up and down in the digital space talking about the rightfulness or the lack of it on the reported seizure of Buhari’s land in Abuja get their facts right, and stop dragging down the name of the former president,” said Garba Shehu.
