ACN berates Patience, Turai on Abuja land tussle
Mrs. Turai Yar’Adua and Mrs. Patience Jonathan
| credits: lindaikeji.blogspot.com
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Congress of Nigeria has condemned the legal tussle between Mrs.
Patience Jonathan and her predecessor, Mrs. Turai Yar’Adua, over a plot
of land in Abuja.
ACN said, “A study in
despicable sycophancy, insider abuse, arbitrariness and manifestation of
the culture of impunity all of which have become the hallmarks of the
administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.”
In a statement on
Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the
party said the ACN was not holding brief for Yar’Adua.
It said, “It is clear
from the court records that the disputed land was first duly allocated
to her non-governmental organisation – Women and Youth Empowerment
Foundation – by the Minister for the Federal Capital Territory and a
statutory right of occupancy duly issued under the hand of the same
minister.
“From the same court
records, the organisation paid all levies and dues running into several
hundreds of millions of naira. However shortly after, the FCT minister,
without reasons, issued a notice of revocation of the said property
ostensibly on the grounds of overriding public interest only to swiftly
re-allocate the same land to another non-governmental organisation, the
African First Ladies Peace Centre, believed to belong to the current
First Lady, Dame Jonathan”.
The ACN also condemned
the decision of the FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed, to name an extension of
the Maitama District after Jonathan, “even when no such honour was
bestowed on former heads of states, especially those whose contributions
to the development of Abuja as the Federal Capital are glaring and
undeniable.”
According to the ACN,
the entire saga has in addition revealed the “under belly of the
gargantuan edifice of corruption of the PDP-led government”.
The party added, “Where for instance
does the office of the First Lady source funds to buy land for over a
quarter of a billion naira and award a contract for its construction for
a further sum of N13,000,000,000?”
