{"id":383336,"date":"2017-12-15T06:03:56","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T06:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=383336"},"modified":"2017-12-15T11:39:58","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T11:39:58","slug":"i-only-advised-mahama-to-leave-military-land-nitiwul-backtracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/12\/i-only-advised-mahama-to-leave-military-land-nitiwul-backtracks\/","title":{"rendered":"I only advised Mahama to leave military land – Nitiwul backtracks"},"content":{"rendered":"
Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, appears to have backtracked from his earlier harsh call on former president John Dramani Mahama to vacate his current property in Accra, alleged to be sited on Military land.<\/p>\n
According to Mr. Nitiwul, he only advised the former President to leave the disputed land to avoid being drawn into the ongoing battle over the site.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”f87MufMO7htLIlVe2xlvZ8YRCd5ozbA7″]”I mentioned former president Mahama and said that where he was living, that land is in dispute between several Labadi families and the military. It would not be in his\u00a0interest as former Commander-in-Chief to live there because people are making reference to him as the one living there with others also encroaching,” he said on\u00a0Eyewitness News.<\/strong><\/p>\n “If you want to take on somebody, they say the former President is living there as well. I said that if I were him, I would not stay in the place. I said that where Mahama is living is not good for him or for us because big people, top politicians have appropriated military lands so he should leave the area as it won’t help us as a people.”<\/p>\n A fiery Dominic Nitiwul had appeared to appeared to state, when he addressed a Meet The Press event last week, that top government officials who were living on land taken from the Armed Forces “should leave.”<\/p>\n He criticized the previous administration for their poor handling of matters relating to the country\u2019s Armed Forces, claiming that land belonging to the military had been sold off under their tenure.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026I am talking about the former President, John Mahama. I will say no more, but I am very disturbed about this. \u00a0It is happening in Tamale, it is happening in Takoradi and Lands Commission is colluding to do that. People in Lands Commission were selling Armed Forces lands. Not under this watch, that cannot happen any longer, and anybody who decides to encroach on Armed Forces lands should leave. It is not in your interest. I am sorry; but that is the truth that we did not manage the Armed Forces lands very well, \u201d he noted.<\/p>\n However, Dominic Nitiwul has now insisted that he did not order Mr. Mahama to leave the said land as he had no power to do so, but only recommended that he relocated in his interests.<\/p>\n “I said that I don’t have the power to order [Mahama] to leave the area, but I advised that it would be good for him to leave the area because he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and the military have made it very clear that they need that land.\u00a0 If you go to some portions of Burma Camp, you may not be able to differentiate military property from civilian property, and that is not good for any us, ” he added.<\/p>\n ‘Reckless, Distasteful’\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Defence Minister came under fire for his comments, with many critics claiming that it was a political vendetta against John Mahama.<\/p>\n