Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, commented about property owners who are yet to comply with the payment of ground rent.
Wike, while fielding questions during his monthly media parley in Abuja on Monday, vowed to seal up those properties.
He stated that he won’t be deterred or care about any kind of blackmail.
He said, “I laugh, and it’s unfortunate. I thank God Mr. President said give them two weeks, one month. Well, it’s more than three months. That is Nigeria for you.
“I’m going to seal up all those properties. I’m going to seal it up. You can’t deny us the taxes we use for development.
“‘Give them two weeks, give them one month.’ We’ve done that. Some have complied. Tomorrow, by the time you start doing this, of course, the normal politics will come out. All kinds of things that we say, I will not listen to that.
“If you have not complied, if you have not paid, we are going to seal it. There’s no magic of talking more, talking this. You can blackmail me all you want.”
Recall that Wike’s administration in the FCT had published the details of 9,000 debtors in newspapers, asking them to pay their ground rents to avoid the risk of forfeiture of their land.
The FCT Administration announced on May 23, 2025, that it would take possession of about 5,000 affected properties owing ground rents between 10 and 43 years and began sealing and taking over properties of debtors, including the PDP national secretariat.
President Bola Tinubu granted the defaulters a 14-day grace period to settle their outstanding payments and penalties.
