Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has revoked 578 plots of land allocated to prominent individuals, including the Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma; Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, and Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele.
 
Senior Special Assistant to Wike, Lere Olayinka, who disclosed this, yesterday, revealed that the land revocation exercise was necessitated by the refusal of the affected persons to pay the charges associated with the Certificate of Occupancy of those plots.
 
Other prominent persons whose allocations were revoked include National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Samuel Anyanwu; former Governor of Enugu State; Chimaroke Nnamani; Senate Minority Leader; Abba Moro; and a lawmaker representing Obokon/Oriade Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Oluwole Oke.
 
All revoked plots were in Maitama 11 District of the Federal Capital Territory.   Olayinka noted that the affected persons were given long notice to settle their bills. 
 
According to the FCTA, those who settled their C-of-O bills on or before January 15, 2025, were exempted from the revocation. The notice read, “The Federal Capital Territory Administration wishes to inform allottees of plots in Maitama II, Cadastral Zone A10, Abuja, who failed to make payments for their Certificate of Occupancy bills within the stipulated grace period, that their Right of Occupancy has been revoked.
 
“This action is under Section 28 of the Land Use Act of 1978, which allows for the withdrawal of land rights in cases of contravention of grant terms, including the obligation to settle bills.”
 
The FCTA noted that landowners, who had completed their payments on or before the January 15 deadline, were not affected. The administration explained that the revocation came after an October 5, 2024, publication in which it had listed 3,273 titleholders in Maitama II, who were yet to pay their C-of-O bills.
 
Following the notice, 2,511 individuals complied, while 762 defaulted.