By Ismaila Jimoh, Abuja
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barr. Nyesom Wike has again stated that he would not be moved by sentiments neither by blackmail in his determination to sanction property owners in the territory who have refused to pay their ground rents despite several notices served on them before now.
Wike also warned construction companies in the territory against land grabbing, saying the fact that they are given lands to house their equipment does not confer automatic ownership of such land on them.
The minister made this clarification while presenting 50 Hilux vehicles to security agencies in the territory on Thursday in Abuja.
It was on record that some months ago, another set of 50 Hilux vehicles was presented to the security agencies making it 100 all together.
He disclosed that his Administration is currently building 12 police divisions across the six Area Councils of FCT, adding that it would be completed by April next year and handed over to the FCT Police Command.
His words; “The Commissioner of Police requested for additional police divisions and as I speak to you now, we are building 12 police divisions across the six Area Councils. They are ongoing and by the grace of God, before April next year we believe those police divisions will have been finished and furnished and then we have them over to the CP. This is to enhance security in those areas. Emphasis will not be on one area. Emphasis will be on the satellite towns rural areas and the city. Everywhere is important to us”.
The Minister, while reacting to the controversy surrounding his decision to revoke a plot of land in which a well known activist has an intetest warned against blackmail by residents who might have flouted the laws, saying he won’t succumb to such antics.
“Let me use this opportunity to tell Nigerians and residents of Abuja, we are not afraid of blackmail. In fact you cannot be in this type of position and expect not to be blackmailed, particularly as regards this Abuja. Some of us have come to put our foot down.
We will stop anybody who thinks that they can obtain government land without formal approval. We will not look at your face.
“If you like, you can be a civil rights activist. If you like, you can be a television talker. What is wrong is wrong.
“No amount of blackmail can stop us. People take government property without approval, without documents and I have told people that there was a government yesterday, the government did not take any step does not mean that another government will come today and will not take any step. Or even if this government does not, tomorrow another government will come that may take a step. That you did something 15 years ago does not mean it is right. It does not mean it is right.
“The mere fact that nobody tried to tell you it is not right does not make it right. You cannot take blackmail to get something from government. You can’t. You cannot. Recently, we told Julius Berger to quit from central business area. When the Julius Berger came to Abuja they asked for a site for them to do their construction. That site does not mean it belongs to Julius Berger. Julius Berger has finished their job. They have to quit the land.
“You cannot tell me if they give you a site because of your construction you finish, the land now turns to be your own. Is it possible? Show me the document that it belongs to you. I am not that kind of person you can think that you go on television and start saying you have lived on the land for over 20 years. And so what? You are a squatter. If you like, go and carry everybody. What is wrong is wrong.
“You go behind you tell people to beg me then you go on television to tell people that they came to take your land and you said the land was allocated to a Rivers man. So what? So, a Rivers man is not entitled to have land in Abuja? You will tell me who is that person that is entitled to have land in Abuja. You can’t tell me that. If you want me to go and publish names of people who have land in Abuja I will go and publish, let Nigerians see. If you want land, you know the right thing to do. You know the right step to take. Through blackmail you won’t get it. You won’t get it.
“If your husband had a company who did a job for Abuja and had a site to stay, that doesn’t make it your husband’s property. It doesn’t. It is for you to come and say please, we have this problem, how can you help us? And not to begin to blackmail people and tell them to go to social media that Mr Wike has come to take your land and he gave it to a House of Representatives member. Ask Chairman of FCT. Who does not have land in the National Assembly? Ask him. Who does not? I mean, some of us, you cannot get us by blackmail. Forget it. If you have a problem, come to us. We will know how to help you. We will know how to solve the problem, not saying “oh, I am a woman. Oh, I am a woman”. What’s that? Because you’re a woman, you will go and carry government land? Let anybody tell the person, bring your documents to show that the property is yours. I have published it on newspapers and people thought I was joking”, he added.
