The All Progressives Congress faulted President Goodluck Jonathan’s acquisition of 90.04 hectares of farmland at the Aviation Village in Abuja barely seven months after he was sworn into office.
They said his action was a clear breach of the provisions of section 138 and 5th Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, Parts 1 and 2.
The APC, in a statement on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, therefore asked Jonathan to apologise for abusing his office and engaging in corrupt practices by acquiring the farmland as a sitting President.
It said nothing could justify the indiscretion exhibited by the President in acquiring such a swath as contained in a newspaper advert which had yet to be refuted by him.
A group, the Purpose Driven Initiative, had in the advertorial claimed that Jonathan incorporated Ebele Integrated Farms Limited which he used to acquire the land.
The APC said the claim by the President’s apologists that their boss got the land because he wanted to engage in farming and that a former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, did the same while in office, missed the point.
According to the APC, the claim by the apologists that the 5th Schedule, Part 1 (Code of Conduct for Public Officers) of the constitution empowers a President to engage in farming, was also not tenable.
It stated that the issues involved went beyond the fact that a public officer was legally allowed to engage in farming .
‘The Fifth Schedule Part 1(Code of Conduct for Public Officers) of the 1999 Constitution, Section 1 states that, a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities.’
“Would President Jonathan have been given 90.04 hectares of such a prime land were he not a sitting President?,” the APC asked. It said the President leveraged on his office to “grab” the land.
The APC statement partly read, “What happened in that Abuja land grab is nothing but the height of indiscretion and abuse of office, and cannot be justified or explained away just like that. Without mincing words, it also amounts to corruption, which is defined in part as a perversion of integrity and a glaring instance of bad leadership.”
It said the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, was emboldened to also grab land in the area because the President had done so.
The APC said, “Those pushing this kind of argument are worsening the President’s case and insulting Nigerians. When did one bad act become a justification for another? Does a thief escape punishment by saying he stole because someone else had stolen? If indeed Chief Obasanjo did it, does that make it right? Is this not part of the reasons this President has been unable to fight corruption?
“It is also important to point out that the Aviation Village, under the Abuja Master plan, is meant only for Aviation-related activities and not farming.
“The President knew this, yet he went ahead to apply and was allocated land for farming in the Aviation Village.
“Perhaps his intention is to subsequently apply for a change of use. How many other people were allocated land for farming in the Aviation Village?’’
The APC asked Jonathan to immediately give back the land he has grabbed.
A Lagos lawyer, Jiti Ogunye condemned Jonathan’s land grabbing mentality, arguing that the act of corruption was not limited to dipping hands into public treasury but also “includes all forms of illicit conduct in office in violation of the code of conduct and other laws of the land.”
Ogunye likened the President’s action to an attitude common with Nigerian leaders, who he said, “are involved in primitive acquisition of capital, including fixed assets, like land.”
He added, “Land belongs to the people, so says the Land Use Act. The Land Use Act says, the President, a governor or the Federal Capital Territory minister is a trustee of the land for the people.
“When that trustee then uses his position to acquire public resources, including fixed assets, which in this case is large expanse of land, which he ought not to have obtained while in office, it is condemnable.
“The critical question is that what kind of farming is he going to use that large size of land for? Is it for cocoa or groundnut?
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