The residents, who refused to be intimidated by the armed soldiers, blocked the roads and stopped the military from gaining entry to the area.
Residents of Iddo Sarki, Tungan Maje, Zuba and Kpakuru communities of Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory have confronted and blocked the Nigerian Army from forcefully taking over their lands.
The natives, who trooped out in large numbers on Thursday and Friday, barricaded all entry points to the dispute land.
The parcel of land in question was put at over 9,000 hectares and harboured about 80 communities.
The army had deployed bulldozers and other equipment to the site with the view to demolishing some of the houses erected by the villagers and commence construction work on the land.
The residents, who refused to be intimidated by the armed soldiers, blocked the roads and stopped the military from gaining entry to the area.
Leader of Coalition of FCT Indigenous Association, Dalhatu Ezekiel Musa, who spoke with SaharaReporters, said the military was bent on forcefully taking over their lands and vowed to resist it.
Ezekiel said "The military are hell bent on taking over that land forcefully and illegally after several engagement on that land.
"We have talked to the FCT Minister who has statutory mandate of land allocation and he has testified in several fora at National Assembly, office of Vice President and said that Nigerian Army did not have allocation and land tittle in that place. That what they are doing is forceful acquisition.
"Army have not entered into negotiation not to even talk of compensation and does not have allocation of the land. They just want to acquire it by force and we are saying it is not going to work.”
He said the National Assembly conducted an investigative hearing on the matter where all parties including the army were asked to present the land allocation documents but failed to produce the documents.
Meanwhile the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, while reacting to the land issue at a function said the land was officially allocated to the army in 1979 while certificate of occupancy was issued in 2011.
The lingering land dispute was a constitutional issue dating back to when Abuja became the federal capital city of the country.
The indigenes accused the government of unfavourable policy against them including marginalisation and forceful ejection.
Angry youths in the area had on May 8, 2019 blocked the convoy of Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on his way to the airport while protesting against alleged takeover of their lands by the Nigerian Army.