Former President Muhammadu Buhari has denied owning land in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Buhari in a statement signed by his spokesman, Garba Shehu on Thursday said, he is personally not the owner of the land.
He said the land belongs to ‘Muhammadu Buhari Foundation’ which was created by some individuals around him, adding that they acquired the foundation through lawful means with the support of well-meaning people.
Shehu noted that the owners of the foundation however faced a setback when the department of the FCDA issued them an “outrageous bill for the issuance of the certificate of occupancy”.
Noting that Buhari has a plot of land registered in his name in Abuja, he added that the former president during his tenure in office, turned down the offer of another plot of land stating that it should be given to people who don’t own a land.
The statement reads, “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 former President is personally not the owner of the said plot of the land which is allocated in the name a “Muhammadu Buhari Foundation.””
“The Foundation was itself floated by some utilitarian individuals around him who, it must 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 organizations.”
“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. 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 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.”
