Garba Shehu, media aide to former president Muhammadu Buhari, has debunked the rumours on seizure of lands belonging to Buhari in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Garba stated that the land in question does not belong to the former president personally, but rather belongs to the “Muhammadu Buhari Foundation” who was floated by some utilitarian individuals around him.
He further explained that the former president during his tenure had turned down the land offer given to him, stating he already had a plot in the FCT.
He disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, December 19.
According to Garba, the bill for the issuance of the certificate of occupancy was very high in cost, compared with the bills given to similar organizations.
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.”
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