Ground rent: Wike, Sen Kingibe trade words over revocation of properties
Omeiza Bilal
Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe, has carpeted the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, over revocation and seizure of properties following failure of owners to pay ground rents.
Checks revealed that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), acting on the instructions of the Minister
had revoked over 4,700 properties whose owners’ owed arrears of ground rent.
Amongst properties sealed by the FCTA included the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Peoples Democratic Party’s secretariat and Ibro Hotels.
However, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had since intervened and given the defaulters a 14-day grace to settle their rents.
But in her reaction, Senator Kingibe maintained that the FCT Minister acted in breach of existing laws as she noted that by virtue of provisions of the Land Use Act and other relevant provisions, the penalty for such default is limited to a fine or surcharge, not the compulsory taking over or sealing off the property.
She said: “The indiscriminate and sometimes abrupt sealing of properties, often executed without proper notice, engagement, or adherence to legal procedure, only serves to deepen the economic distress of individuals, families, and business owners already facing mounting hardship. These actions undermine livelihoods, erode public trust in institutions, and risk destabilizing the fragile balance of social and economic stability within the FCT.”
Responding to Kingibe, the Minister in a statement by Lere Olayinka, his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, counselled the Senator to purge herself of the hatred she is harbouring against the FCT Minister and stop seeing issues from the angle of “I hate Wike.”
Describing the Senator’s comment on the enforcement of payment of ground rent as ridiculously illogical, the FCT Minister’s spokesperson said land allocation is not unconditional, noting that there are conditions that must be met and one of them is annual payment of ground rent.
