Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has revealed how former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir el-Rufa’i, revoked a plot of land belonging to former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, in Abuja.
Kukah spoke yesterday in Abuja, while reviewing Gowon’s autobiography: ‘My Life of Duty and Allegiance’, published by Havilah Group.
The cleric, known for his interventions on national issues and reflections on Nigeria’s political history, used the occasion to recount some of the difficulties Gowon faced after leaving office, including his years in exile following the 1975 military coup that ousted him from power.
According to Kukah, Gowon initially had no property in Abuja after returning to Nigeria and secured a plot of land only after the intervention of senior military figures. “He didn’t have a plot of land. And when he came back, it was just out of pity, let me put it that way, that General Babangida agreed. Finally, they named one crescent after him, and after the crescent, they now gave him a plot of land, his first plot of land in Abuja”, he stated.
The bishop said Gowon had mobilised resources and commenced construction on the land before the allocation was revoked during el-Rufa’i’s tenure as FCT minister. “He mobilised resources to try and start building. He begins to build. Then el-Rufa’i, as minister of the FCT, revoked the land”, Kukah stated. According to him, the intervention of retired General Theophilus Ɗanjuma and others eventually helped Gowon recover the property.
The remarks formed part of Kukah’s extensive review of the autobiography, which he described as a voluminous account of Nigeria’s turbulent political history spanning about 900 pages and divided into 36 chapters.
Kukah disclosed that much of Gowon’s personal archives and records were lost in two separate fire incidents in Bakori and Kaduna, making the memoir largely dependent on the former military leader’s recollections. “It’s important to underscore the fact that whatever you read in the book is the result of what the author was able to recall”, he stated.
The bishop structured his review around different phases of Gowon’s life, including military coups, exile, personal trials and his relationships with key actors in Nigeria’s political history.
