By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent
INTENSE SCRUTINY surrounded plot 1946, Buffer Transit Southern Park Way, Gaduwa District, Abuja, on Wednesday as the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), accompanied by senior naval officers including Army Lieutenant A.M. Yerima, visited properties reportedly belonging to a retired Chief of Naval Staff.
The visit comes amid ongoing reports that FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has moved to seize the land and associated buildings over a disputed inheritance matter.
Officers observed during the inspection maintained a calm but firm presence, with security heightened around the area.
Residents and military insiders followed developments closely as the site drew national attention.
The properties, situated in a highbrow area of Abuja, have been at the centre of a dispute between the FCT Administration and the family of the former naval chief, Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo.
Wike maintains that the land was irregularly acquired and belongs to the government, while the family insists that all legal processes were properly followed.
Neither the Navy nor the FCT Administration has released an official statement regarding the inspection, though the development has sparked discussions online on both legal and institutional dimensions.
The visit follows Tuesday’s confrontation, when Minister Wike had visited the site after officials of the Department of Development Control in the FCT were reportedly chased away by armed soldiers allegedly acting on instructions from a retired senior officer.
Viral videos from the encounter showed Wike in a heated exchange with a naval officer identified as AM Yerima.
Speaking to journalists, Wike said the owner of the disputed property failed to provide approved land documents when requested, adding, “The director of development control said, ‘Bring the documents.’ They don’t have them. ‘Bring approval for building’; they don’t have it.
How can we continue to allow lawlessness to prevail? What about those who don’t have the military behind them? What about ordinary Nigerians?”
The officer at the centre of the dispute is Awwal Zubairu Gambo, a retired Chief of Naval Staff who reportedly acquired the land in 2020. Gambo was born on April 22, 1966, in Nasarawa Local Government Area, Kano State.
He attended Gwagwarwa Special Primary School, Kano, before proceeding to Rumfa College, Kano, where he obtained his O-level certificate in 1984.
He enlisted in the Nigerian Defence Academy as a member of the 36 Regular Course on September 24, 1984, and was commissioned sub-lieutenant on October 24, 1989.
Gambo specialises in intelligence and underwater warfare, attending officer courses including Junior Division 48/99 and Senior Course 26 at the Armed Forces Command Staff College, Jaji, and the National Defence Course at the South African National Defence College.
Gambo also holds a postgraduate diploma and a master’s degree in Transport Management from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).
He is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management and a fellow of the Certified Institute of Shipping, the Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria, and the National Defence College, South Africa.
In January 2021, former President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Gambo as Chief of Naval Staff. Before this, he served as Director of Search and Rescue at the Defence Headquarters, Chief of Naval Training Command, Security Coordinator for the Presidential Relief Committee in the North-East, and Director of Simulation at the Naval Doctrine and Assessment Centre, Bonny Camp, Lagos.
During his tenure, Gambo spoke against crude oil theft and, in August 2022, noted that the Nigerian Navy had lost numerous court cases on arrested vessels due to non-diligent prosecution.
In June 2023, President Bola Tinubu replaced him with Emmanuel Ogala as naval chief, and in October, Idi Abbas assumed the position.
