Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s aide, Garba Shehu, has debunked claims that his principal’s Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-O) were among 762 plots of land revoked in Abuja’s upscale Maitama District due to unpaid statutory fees by Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
Shehu clarified that the land in question is not personally owned by the former president but is allocated to the foundation established by his associates.
He urged critics to verify facts before drawing conclusions, emphasising that Buhari had previously declined additional land offers during his presidency, stating that priority should be given to those without allocations.
In a statement titled: “Nothing Like Loss of Buhari Land in Abuja,” he said: “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 former president Muhammadu Buhari.
“The president is personally not the owner of the said plot of land, which is allocated in the name of the ‘Muhammadu Buhari Foundation.’
“The Foundation was itself floated by some utilitarian individuals around him who, it must be said, went about it in a lawful manner with the support of a number of well-meaning persons.
“But they ran into a roadblock in the land department of the FCDA, which handed them an outrageous bill for the issuance of the certificate of occupancy, very high in cost and not at all comparable with the bills given to similar organisations.
“It may have been that this was not erroneous but a deliberate mistake, making the revocation of land 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 and that those who did not have should be given it. 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.”
Credit: The Sun