PDP must follow due process for revoked land title reversal – Wike’s aide

The Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, has said that only the minister can restore the revoked land title of the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Validview network reports that the revocation of the land title of the PDP National Secretariat located in the Central Area of the FCT has remained a subject of controversy after a letter signed by the FCT Director of Lands, Chijioke Nwanwkoeze, announced the revocation of the building, which is still under construction.

While the PDP faulted the revocation of both of its land titles, the director had also clarified that only one of the properties belonged to the PDP, noting that its present Secretariat building, located in Wuse, belonged to Senator Samaila Mamman Kurfi.

Olayinka, who was on Arise Television’s The Morning Show on Tuesday, said the minister could not have treated the PDP differently from the other 4,793 landowners whose titles were also revoked, adding that what the party was doing was whipping up sentiments in the media.

He urged the leadership of the PDP to write a letter to the minister, like every other titleholder, asking for a chance to pay up the debt, reiterating that the minister would not favour the party over others.

He stated, “That Wadata Plaza does not belong to the PDP. It belongs to Senator Samaila Mamman Kurfi, and the letter of revocation was sent to him at his address in Kaduna. It was only the property in the Central Area, that is the Secretariat under construction, that belonged to the PDP. That was the property on which PDP received a revocation letter.

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“And the moment your property is revoked, the only person who can restore your property is the Minister. Because what the PDP has done in the last few days is to brickbat, propaganda in the media, trying to whip up sentiment, whipping up emotion. This and that, Wike is a PDP member.

“So because Wike is a PDP member, he should treat PDP differently from the other 4,793 people? If the PDP wants a redress or it wants the matter to be looked into, like every other person affected, they can write to the minister, state where they did not pay, and say, Honourable Minister, give us another chance, we will pay. And probably, if you penalise us too, we’ll pay a penalty. As of today, I’m not sure they have done that. If they do that, maybe or maybe not. But as of today, those 4,794 properties now belong to the Federal Capital Territory Administration.”

The media aide also debunked claims that the revocation was politically motivated, adding that the minister did his job without considering who was or wasn’t affected, despite being a member of the party.

He further stated that the minister could not have prevented the revocation of the land title, as he was not an administrative member of the PDP, and therefore could not know how much debt the party had.

Olayinka added, “Wike, the FCT minister, is a PDP member; he remains in PDP. But we have never been involved in the administration of PDP. The only thing people outside the NWC can do would be to support the party, probably financially, morally. But those who are directly involved in the party’s administration are the one who knows what to pay and what not to pay.

“A list of 8,375 land titles was presented to the minister as landowners who have not paid ground rent for like one to 43 years. So you expect the minister to start looking (6:51) at the 8,375 names one by one to see whether PDP is there? No, he won’t.

“He did not even look at the list. They presented a list of those who have not paid, and they said that those who have not paid for 10 to 43 years, the land should be revoked (4,794). Even the minister was not aware that the PDP was there. Like I’ve said here, Wike does his job without looking at people’s faces.”