* Alleged leakage of land allocation to children traced to FCDA staff
* Knocks greet arrest,. detention of whistleblower
* Wike not whistleblower should be investigated – Swore
It appears the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Bar Nyesome Ezemwo Wike is in trouble owing to his alleged allocation of huge plots of land in the FCT to his biological children, DAUDA ISMAIL writes.
Last week, news of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Barrister Ezemwo Nyesome Wike allocating about 3,822 hectares of land across the FCT to his two sons, with an estimated value of $6.45 billion got Nigerans both shocked and talking. Not a few called for an investigation into the allegation which of found true, is a gross abuse of office never seen in the FCT.
Jordan Wike, the 25-year-old eldest son of the Minister of the FCT, is said to have been the recipient of land allocations across the Nigerian capital. This, according to senior civil servants, have described as among the most brazen instances of self-enrichment in public office witnessed in decades across Nigeria.
The junior Wike who recently concluded a master’s degree in law at a British institution, was the beneficiary of no fewer than 1,740 hectares of land—valued at approximately $2.85 billion—allocated within the past year. This includes several high-value plots his father, Nyesom Wike, was said to have seized from original owners for non-compliance with land use regulations.
Jordan’s younger brother, 23-year-old Joaquin Wike, was also said to have been granted at least 2,082 hectres of land—estimated to be worth $3.6 billion—between October 2024 and May 2025.
Collectively, Nyesome Wike is alleged to have allocated a minimum of 3,822 hectres of land across the FCT to his two sons, with an estimated value of $6.45 billion, according to town planning officials who compiled the figures using current market valuations at the respective locations and do not include the compulsory premium typically attached to the issuance of certificates of occupancy for each parcel.
Factoring in these certificates, the value of the land would be substantially higher, the officials noted.
Despite the mounting evidence, Mr Wike has continued to deny appropriating land to his children, claiming that the presence of Jordan and Joaquin Wike’s names on the property documents was purely coincidental.
Yet a staff of the FCDA, Mairiga Hassan Shaharu, is reported to have been arrested and detained on the order of the FCT Minister since Friday, June 27.
Following the arrest, human rights lawyer and former presidential candidate of the AAC, Omoleye Sowore revealed what himself and other activists and human rights lawyers experienced in their attempt to secure Shaharu’s release.
In a lengthy social media post, Sowore revealed: “Last Friday, Mairiga Hassan Shaharu, a staff member at the Federal Capital Development Administration, FCDA, was unlawfully detained at the FCDA Police Post on the orders of Nyesom Wike’s Chief Security Officer, CSO. He was accused of leaking documents showing that the FCT Minister had illegally allocated large portions of Abuja land to his two underage sons.
“But the truth is that Mairiga doesn’t even have access to the Land Department’s internal systems. He works in the department that handles new land applications, not approvals or allocations.
“I visited the police post tonight with two human rights lawyers, Rosemary Hamza and AK Musa. We were later joined by a third lawyer who had tried unsuccessfully to secure Mairiga’s release earlier.
“According to him, Wike’s CSO used a forged court order to detain Mairiga. The IPO on the case refused to show the order. When the lawyer managed to glance at it, he discovered the order came from a magistrate who no longer presides in the jurisdiction, a clear evidence of forgery and abuse of office.
“After some three hours of confrontation by telephone, Wike’s CSO claimed they couldn’t locate the Investigating Police Officer, IPO; it was a ruse.
“Meanwhile, the senior female officer in charge of the police post returned from Karu, summoned to calm things down, she immediately said she lacked the power to release Mairiga, because he was Wike’s personal detainee.
“Eventually, the CSO called back and claimed Wike had changed his mind. He said the matter was now “beyond”him as it was now in the hands of the FCT Police Commissioner, CP Wale Ajao, the same Commissioner of the Nigeria Police Force who recently helped imprison a TikToker on behalf of Senator Prince Ned Nwoko and his youngest wife, Regina Daniels. I called CP Ajao directly, but he pretended the detention was based on a valid court order—unaware that we had already confirmed the order was fake. He repeated the same tactic, “Go to court.”
“Then came the most brazen move, Wike’s CSO called again and said Wike himself wants to see me at his office tomorrow morning alongside the detained worker. I asked him if he even knew who he was speaking to. I told him flatly, Wike couldn’t have summoned me, he knew better not to make such a mistake and I will not be visiting his office.
“Before ending the call, I asked the CSO, If Wike never allocated land to his children, why is someone being detained for leaking documents that supposedly don’t exist?” He said, stressing that Wike should be the one under investigation for allocating public lands to his children, a clear criminal conduct, not Citizen Mairiga.
Speaking on the issue, Dantani Yisa, a youth leader and a native of the FCT said: “I just can’t imagine the level of impunity constantly displayed by political office holders in Nigeria. Wike who clearly did what is wrong is being shielded by the apparatus of government, while the whistleblower who should have been commented and even rewarded is the one being dehumanised by the same Police and other security operatives who should be investigating the brazen abuse of office.
“So the person who committed the offense is being protected while the one who exposed the crime is being bullied. It’s just unfortunate.”
Another respondent, a civil servant who opted to remain anonymous for fear of being victimised, said: “That is Nigeria for you where the law is a respecter of persons; a country where the so called big men and women are above the law?
“The do not care at all about the rights and feelings of the common man, so they’ll go to any level to molest, dehumanise and mistreat the common man. Otherwise why will Wike go to this length to attempt.to destroy the innocent staff who only exposed an anomaly if he knows that he would be brought before the law?”
Many respondents expressed happiness that Sowore and other rights activists have waded into the matter. According to a journalist, David Maxwell, “Wike’s response to the leaked information by trying to gag and intimidate Mairiga and any other Nigerian who is harbouring the intention to expose his official malpractices, shows that he knows that he is in trouble and is trying to exhonorate himself. Let us just wait to see how it plays out.”
