Army has legal documents for land claimed by Abuja natives–Buratai
NEWS DIGEST–The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, said the claim by some Abuja natives that the Nigerian Army (NA) forcefully seized and collected their ancestral land is false and malicious.
He said, on the contrary, there are necessary legal documents to prove that the land belongs to the Army and not for the FCT indigenes.
Buratai, made the disclosure, at the ground-breaking foundation laying ceremony of Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment and Headquarters Directorate of legal Services located at Giri, Airport Road, Abuja
The Chief of Army Staff, said that the Giri Command Estate’s land was officially granted to the Army in 1979, but it was in 1997 that they Army got the Right of Occupancy and other necessary legal documents from the then Military Administrator of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Buratai, reiterated the Army’s commitment and determination to rid the country of “bad elements” and protect its territorial integrity from external aggression.
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In collaboration with other security agencies, the COAS, added that persons who intend to foment trouble or threaten the peace and unity of the country will be severely dealt with.
Welcoming guests to the event, Major-General Ebong O. Udoh, Chief of Logistics at the Army Headquarters, noted that the state of both offices and residential accommodation in military barracks and cantonments before Buratai assumed office in 2015 left much to be desired.
The appalling situation, Maj. Gen. Udoh, said took a heavy toll on the state of welfare and well-being of Army’s personnel, hence dampening their moral and fighting efficiency in the on-going counter-insurgency war and other internal security operations.
He however, said that within the past three years, more offices and residential accommodations have been constructed, and several dilapidated ones were renovated.
High point of the occasion was the foundation-laying of a block for the construction of an office complex by the COAS.
Office buildings, residential apartments for senior Army officers, a Golf Course, and recreational centres, among others, are projects currently being constructed at the Command Estate.
