Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has made good his threat to revoke land titles in the federal capital that did not meet statutory requirements.
On Friday, the ministry released list of 762 plots in Maitama District that now stand revoked, several belonging to prominent individuals including a former president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari.
However, Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, clarified that the former President is not the owner of the revoked land, but rather the “Muhammadu Buhari Foundation.”
Shehu’s statement reads in part, “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, allegedly belonging to the 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 of ‘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,” the statement added.
Other titles revoked by the exercise belong to:
Former and Serving Officials
- Walter Onnoghen: Former Chief Justice of Nigeria
- Abbas Tajudeen: Speaker of the House of Representatives
- George Akume: Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and his wife, Regina Akume
- Uba Sani: Governor of Kaduna State
Former and Serving Lawmakers
- Tahir Monguno: Senate Chief Whip
- Chibudom Nwuche: Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives
- Teslim Folarin: Former Senate Leader
- Nnenna Ukeje: Former House of Reps member
- Andy Uba: Former Senator
- Smart Adeyemi: Former Senator
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) warned 614 other individuals and companies to settle outstanding bills within two weeks or face revocation of their Rights of Occupancy.
The revocation was carried out under Section 28 of the Land Use Act of 1978, which grants the Minister power to withdraw land rights for non-compliance with payment obligations.
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