Skip to main content

Defence Headquarters plans relocation to permanent site –COAS


Chief of Army Staff, Lt- General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, has disclosed that the present location of the defence headquarters in the Gariki area of the Federal Capital territory (FCT) Abuja will soon be moved to its permanent site.


Describing the present location of the defence headquarters, which comprises the army, navy and air force as mere temporary site, Buratai said the military is already making plans to relocate the service to its permanent site very soon when it has annexed all the lands belonging to the three services.

The Army chief made this disclosure yesterday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on the FCT in company of leadership of the army authorities to explain the alleged army’s forceful takeover of 238 hectares of land in Maitama Extension.

This is as the Minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello, has blamed a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT, Abuja), Senator Adamu Aliero for the current face-off between the Nigerian Army and civilians over ownership of the 238 hectares of land.

Bello made this allegation while explaining to the senators, the current efforts being made by FCT and the Army to resolve the problem amicably.

The minister said, the 238 hectares of land was originally allocated to the Nigerian Army in 1996, but some time in 2009, when Senator Adamu Aliero was the FCT Minister, about 600 plots were re-allocated to some privileged civilians and retired military officers without any legal revocation of allocation made in 1996 when retired Lt –General Jeremiah Useni, was the minister.

He said: “I want to just mention that the area in contention was actually area earmarked for the Nigerian Army under the Guards Brigade way back in 1996. But sometime in 2009 a portion and the entire area in contention is about 246 hectares or thereabout.

“Sometime in 2009, plot allocations were made there and commitments were undertaken by the FCTA in terms of infrastructure. Allocated plots in that area from our records numbered about 600 plots out of which Certificate of Occupancy (C-of- O) have been issued to about 200 with payments of about N5.6 billion received aside commitment of about N9 billion already made in respect of providing infrastructure in the area out of estimated N23billion”.

He appealed to the committee to give the FCT authority and the Army more time to resolve the problem, saying “at the end of the day, we would be able to reach a solution to meet the needs of the military and of course, ensure also those that were allocated plots in that area in terms of financial commitments, do not lose their commitments”.

He added that as a result of the problem, the FCT administration was already identifying all available military lands within the territory towards avoiding similar encroachment aided from within.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Omagbemi frees Angels, Queens for Fed Cup final

Super Falcons’ Head Coach, Florence Omagbemi, has elected to release players of Rivers Angels and Bayelsa Queens in the Senior Women National Team camp for Sunday’s potentially explosive women Federation Cup final between both teams in Lagos. Omagbemi The member of FIFA Technical Study said the ladies would be allowed to leave the team’s camp in Abuja to travel to Lagos for the big clash, which starts at 1pm at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on Sunday. That decision has freed Angels’ half dozen of goalkeeper Ibubeleye Whyte, defenders Osinachi Ohale, Ugo Njoku and Gladys Akpa and midfielders Chioma Wogu and Glory Iroka to be part of the glamour event, to be attended by the Governors of Lagos, Anambra, Nasarawa, Bayelsa and Rivers States. Bayelsa Queens’ duo of goalkeeper Alaba Jonathan and playmaker Osarenoma Igbinovia will also be on duty. The involvement of the Super Falcons’ stars will certainly boost the quality of the final match, and ensure the two teams do not miss their Falco...
Post a Comment
Read more

Supreme Court doesn’t need 21 justices – CJN

The acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, has said appointing more judges or increasing the number of courtrooms are not the solutions to the problem of delayed justice dispensation in the country. The acting CJN said the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court would  remain congested so long as the number of appeals proceeding there from the high courts was not regulated. Justice Onnoghen also argued that it was erroneous to believe that delay at the Supreme Court was as a result of not having up to 21 Justices prescribed by the constitution. He noted hat even the United States of America, with a higher population, had only nine Supreme Court Justices. He argued that the current 17 Justices on the Supreme Court bench were just enough for the country, if the number of appeals proceeding to the appellate and apex courts was regulated. Justice Onnoghen made this argument on Monday in Lagos while inaugurating the newly refurbished building of the Lagos Division o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump ex-aide Paul Manafort 'offered to help Putin'

US President Donald Trump's one-time campaign chairman secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to assist President Vladimir Putin, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reports. Paul Manafort is said to have proposed a strategy to nullify anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics a decade ago. AP says documents and interviews support its claims about Mr Manafort. Mr Manafort has insisted that he never worked for Russian interests. He worked as Mr Trump's unpaid campaign chairman from March until August last year, including the period during which the flamboyant New York billionaire clinched the Republican nomination. He resigned after AP revealed that he had co-ordinated a secret Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's ruling pro-Russian political party until 2014. Newly obtained business records link Mr Manafort more directly to Mr Putin's interests in the region, AP says. Donald Trump unpaid Campaign Chairman It ...
Post a Comment
Read more