Buhari Denies Ownership Of Land Revoked By Wike In Abuja

Former President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday denied ownership of a piece of land purportedly allocated to him by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCDA) in Abuja.

Media reports indicate that Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has revoked the ownership of 762 plots of land in the Maitama 1 District of Abuja, citing non-payment of statutory fees.

According to the trending reports, high-profile figures, including former President Muhammadu Buhari and former Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen, are among those affected.

The FCTA had also issued a two-week ultimatum to 614 other individuals and organisations, demanding they settle outstanding Rights of Occupancy (R-of-O) fees or risk losing their plots.

However, debunking the reports, the former President stated he is “not the owner of the said plot of land which is allocated in the name of a ‘Muhammadu Buhari Foundation.’”

In a statement issued by his media aide, Garba Shehu, and made available to The Guardian in Abuja, the former President explained that he turned down the offer by the administration when it was presented to him.

The media aide further clarified, “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. He, therefore, turned down the offer

“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 to get their facts right and stop dragging down the name of the former president.

“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.

“Former President Buhari is personally not the owner of the said plot of land, which is allocated in the name of a ‘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 that did not at all compare with the bills given to similar organisations.

“It may have been that this was not erroneous, but a deliberate mistake, making the revocation of the land no surprise to anyone.

“As a person, the former President has a plot of land to his name in Abuja.”