The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has strongly denied claims of ethnic discrimination in the demolition of a property allegedly owned by Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu, Chairman and CEO of the SNECOU Group Limited. This development is related to the ongoing dispute over a 214-hectare land parcel in Abuja’s Asokoro District.
The demolition move has sparked a divisive discussion, with Ukachukwu claiming that Wike’s actions were driven by his Igbo ancestry and lacked judicial support.
In his monthly live media appearance, Wike provided a thorough account of the circumstances leading up to the demolition.
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He argued that the land was illegally given to Ukachukwu because no acting minister was in place to approve the deal at the time. According to Wike, this oversight has allowed for extensive land grabs in Abuja, which have been made possible by bribed officials in his ministry’s land department.
Wike emphasised the complexity of the matter by revealing that he was flooded with land-related petitions as soon as he took office.
He responded by calling a conference of all the concerned parties and their solicitors so that each case could be carefully evaluated. Unwavering in his fight against corruption at the land department, Wike stated that he would no longer rely just on internal lawyers but would also seek advice from outside attorneys.
Wike stated, “I have been doing this before. I will continue to do it. And nothing will happen. Criminals are criminals. They may come in different ways. I have never seen people like land-grabbing people in this place. I came in, I met so many petitions. One company came with different petitions, with different owners of properties.”
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“I summoned all of them. They came with their lawyers, senior advocates. And I said look what is this? Companies presented their own cases. Company A presented their own case, company B presented their own, company C, company D, Company E, I said okay, I am going to seek advice from external solicitors.”
He further elaborated, “I am not going to take advice from insiders, because the biggest fraud is that the land department has been compromised. I sought the views of senior lawyers and told them, we need to do things differently.”
“This land, by this so-called ethnic jingoist, was allocated when there was no minister. The minister left on May 29, 2023. By June the land was allocated by the director of lands.”
“We all met and agreed that nobody should do anything on the land until we are able to make a final decision. You know what happened? These guys thought they were too smart and they started selling the land,” Wike added.
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