Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has defended the demolition of the property belonging to Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu, saying the land allocated to Ukachukwu did not have the approval of any minister as his predecessor.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SNECOU Group Limited, Ukachukwu, who decried the demolition of his investment on 214 hectares of land in the Asokoro district of FCT, accused Wike of ordering the demolition without any court order despite pending valid two court orders from separate courts restraining him and the FCT administration from tampering with the property.
Ukachukwu who spoke in a recent interview with Channels, called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and save the multi-million-naira invested in the property.
Ukachukwu, Anambra State-born businessman claimed that the property was demolished because it was owned by an Igbo man, and not because the company violated any law.
He said that the demolition was done in bad fate. “Wike called for a meeting over the land, we went with our documents after seeing what we had with our lawyer and other company, Sunrise which they gave part of that land. Wike said that there is nothing on this that the court should take its effect”, he said.
Speaking to the allegation during a press briefing, Wike said the land allocated to Ukachukwu did not have the approval of any minister as his predecessor.
The FCT minister said the land-grabbing in Abuja is becoming rampant because some officials in the land department of his ministry have compromised.
“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. 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’m going to seek advice from external solicitors. I’m 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, talked about, 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 take a final decision. You know what happened? These guys thought they were too smart and they started selling the land, Wike said.
The minister said there was a time when he wanted to commission a Water Park, and he was informed he could not, adding, “The Pacco and its allies had gone to court stopping me from commissioning the water park.”
“You see these guys (some officials in FCTA) are colliding with the plaintiff against the FCTA. I’ve never seen people who are so fraudulent like this! What they do here. They sued you, they sued me as FCT minister. They have court judgments in their pocket. I told him you are wasting time. His brother sent me a text message. I have never met his brother but he sent me a message saying, “You told your Ikwerre brothers you will deal with Igbos in FCT’, Imagine such.
“Why do we behave like this in this country? We keep doing the same thing and expect different result. If you transfer a director, he would say, ‘Oh! It’s because I am Hausa! If you transfer another one, he would say, ‘It’s because I am a Muslim’, but why?” he added.
