The aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has fired back after the viral confrontation between his boss and a naval officer in Abuja, claiming the officer was acting on a fraudulent land deal.
Lere Olayinka, Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Publicity and Communications, said the drama stemmed from a “land scam” that tricked a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo (retd), into buying a plot that was never meant for housing.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, Olayinka revealed that the disputed Gaduwa plot was originally allocated in 2007 to Santos Estate Limited, strictly for park and recreation.
“That particular land was allocated to a company in 2007, Santos Estate Limited, for park and recreation,” he said.
He explained that the company later applied to convert the land to commercial use in 2022, but the request was rejected.
“In 2022, the minister of FCT declined that request. Wike was not the minister then,” Olayinka clarified.
Despite the rejection, he said the company went ahead to “illegally partition” the land and sell off portions, one of which was bought by the retired naval chief.
“Probably in anticipation of the minister’s approval for conversion, the man decided to partition the land, a land allocated to him for park and recreation. He now partitioned the land and sold it to people, including the former Chief of Naval Staff,” Olayinka said.
The aide said rather than admit he was duped, the retired officer resorted to using military power to assert ownership.
“That is why I want to say that the Chief of Naval Staff was scammed. He has realised that he was scammed. Instead of him to now come out and seek help, he resorted to use military might,” he stated.
“After selling land allocated to you for park and recreation, for people to build a house, who should the Chief of Naval Staff go and hold? The person who’s claiming or the government? He chose not to hold the person who’s scammed, the company who’s scammed.”
Olayinka stressed that the disputed site is on a designated public corridor, not a residential area.
“That portion of the land, that pathway is for public buildings and corporate buildings, not residential, meaning that you cannot build residential house there,” he said.
He insisted that Gambo has no legal claim to the land.
“As of today, Vice Admiral Gambo does not have a document, a title document, showing that he owns the land. He does not own the land,” Olayinka said.
The FCT official also said even if the retired officer had documents, he still failed to follow due process.
“Assuming we’re not conceding that he has title documents and he owns the land, before you begin development of a land, there are processes you must pass through… Did he take his building plan on that land to development control? And did development control approve the building plan?” he asked.
The clash, caught on camera, showed Wike confronting naval personnel guarding the disputed site. The video has since gone viral, sparking heated debate over corruption, impunity, and land grabbing in Ab
