The Senior Special Assistant on Publicity to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Lere Olayinka, says Tuesday’s confrontation between Nyesom Wike and a naval officer in Abuja, stemmed from a land scam, not political or military tension.
Speaking on a national television Sunrise Daily Programme on Wednesday, Olayinka explained that the disputed plot in Mabushi was never meant for private housing, but for park and recreation purposes.
“That particular land was allocated to a company in 2007, Santos Estate Limited for park and recreation,” he said.
“The company did not do anything on the land because that place is a parkway, it’s a walkway, it’s a road corridor. You don’t build there.”
Olayinka said the company later sought to change the land’s use from park to commercial in 2022, but the FCT Administration rejected the request.
“In 2022, the minister of FCT declined that request. Wike was not the minister then,” he added.
Despite the rejection, Olayinka alleged that the firm illegally partitioned and sold portions of the land, including one parcel bought by a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo (retd).
“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,” he said.
According to him, Vice Admiral Gambo was “scammed” into buying the land and later attempted to use his military background to enforce 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,” Olayinka said.
He insisted that the retired officer had no valid title document or approved building plan, and that the Mabushi corridor was zoned for public and corporate buildings, not residential houses.
“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 maintained.
The minister’s aide urged Nigerians to ask the right questions rather than politicize the incident.
“Before you begin development of a land, there are processes you must pass through — one of such is to have a building plan approved by development control. Did he do that?” he asked.
The remarks come after a viral video showed Minister Wike confronting naval personnel guarding the property allegedly linked to Gambo. The face-off sparked nationwide debate over land ownership, civil-military relations, and alleged abuse of power in the FCT.
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