Lere Olayinka, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed criticisms from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Bode George over the revocation of the party’s national secretariat land title in Abuja.
In a strongly worded statement on Saturday, Olayinka argued that the PDP leadership was solely responsible for losing the land due to its failure to pay ground rent for 28 years. He described George’s accusation that Wike was waging war against the party as misleading and unfounded.
“The PDP leadership should be held accountable for their failure to settle their financial obligations. The revocation was not targeted at the PDP alone but was part of a broader exercise affecting nearly 5,000 properties, including government institutions,” Olayinka stated.
Olayinka also shed light on the PDP’s long-standing failure to complete the purchase of Wadata Plaza, a property the party attempted to acquire in 2005. He revealed that the party was required to pay N26.9 million to secure ministerial consent for the purchase but failed to do so. Instead, the PDP sought a waiver from then-FCT Minister Nasir El-Rufai, citing financial difficulties; a request that was denied.
“El-Rufai, who was a PDP member at the time, refused to grant the waiver, insisting that the party must pay. Interestingly, Chief Bode George, who was in the PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC) then, did not accuse El-Rufai of waging war against the party,” Olayinka noted.
He further questioned why the PDP failed to pay N7.6 million in ground rent over two decades for its national secretariat land, despite raising over N21 billion in 2014 for the building’s completion.
“How can the government’s enforcement of the consequences of non-payment be seen as a declaration of war? Should the FCTA under Wike have treated the PDP differently from the other 4,794 land title holders whose properties were revoked for the same reason?” he asked.
Olayinka clarified that the land revocation exercise was not politically motivated, pointing out that several high-profile government institutions, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), were also affected.
He urged Chief Bode George to seek accurate information before making public statements, insisting that Wike was simply enforcing the law without bias.
Taking a political jab, Olayinka compared the PDP’s electoral performance in Wike’s Rivers State and George’s Lagos State, suggesting that Wike had been more effective in delivering electoral victories for the party.
