Bishop Matthew Kukah says senior military leaders stepped in after Nasir El-Rufai revoked a land allocation belonging to Gen. Yakubu Gowon in Abuja.

Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has disclosed that former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir El-Rufai, revoked a plot of land allocated to former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, in Abuja.

Kukah made the revelation on Tuesday in Abuja while reviewing Gowon’s autobiography titled, My Life of Duty and Allegiance.
According to the bishop, Gowon had no property in Abuja after returning from exile following the 1975 coup. He explained that the land was later allocated through the intervention of senior military officers, including former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, who also named a crescent after Gowon.
“He mobilised resources to try and start building. He begins to build. Then El-Rufai, who was minister of the FCT, revoked the land,” Kukah said.
Kukah further disclosed that retired Gen. Theophilus Danjuma and other prominent figures later intervened, helping Gowon regain the property.
The cleric described the memoir, published by Havilah Group, as a 900-page account chronicling Nigeria’s political history across 36 chapters. He noted that many of Gowon’s personal archives were destroyed in fire incidents in Bakori and Kaduna, making the autobiography largely dependent on the former Head of State’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,” Kukah stated.
He also pointed to portions of the memoir detailing Gowon’s relationship with former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, saying the book reflected a level of trust between both leaders despite political tensions that followed Gowon’s overthrow.