• Chidoka asks minister to apologise to officer over remarks
A confrontation ensued yesterday in Abuja’s Gaduwa District, as armed military officers, allegedly acting on instructions of a retired naval chief, resisted efforts by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to halt work on a disputed parcel of land.
The incident occurred when officials of the FCT Administration (FCTA) arrived at Plot 1946 in Gaduwa to enforce a demolition order on what authorities described as an illegal structure.
The operation, however, met stiff resistance from uniformed personnel stationed at the site. Tensions heightened when Wike, accompanied by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Miller Dantawaye, and other senior officials, arrived at the location, but was initially denied access by the armed personnel.
Despite attempts by the commanding officer — identified as Lieutenant A.M Yerima — to prevent the minister’s entry, Wike’s security aides forced their way through to enable him to inspect the site.
Visibly angered by the defiance, Wike described the development as a clear case of “land grabbing,” vowing that the administration would not succumb to intimidation by any group, no matter how powerful.
“Despite the military intimidation, I will not succumb or allow this land grabbing. It’s an illegality that must not stand,” he declared. The minister accused the developers of erecting structures on government land without approval or title documents, insisting that due process must be followed in all land transactions within the territory.
“You are aware that the land departments and the Development Control have the mandate to monitor illegal development and land grabbing,” the minister said.
“When this was brought to my attention, I instructed them to ensure that nothing takes place there, as there were no legal documents—no regional approval, no valid acquisition.” According to Wike, while officials of the Department of Development Control were on site to implement his directive, they were chased away by armed soldiers allegedly acting under the instruction of a retired senior officer.
“I was informed that the soldiers of the military had to chase them away, and I thought they were acting illegally,” Wike said. “Today, while I was in the office, I was called again that the military had taken over the place. I had to come myself to see things. It’s really unfortunate.”
He expressed shock that a person who once held a top military position could resort to such intimidation rather than follow due process. “I don’t understand how somebody who attained that position cannot approach my office to say, ‘Look, this is what is going on.’ But simply because he’s a military man, he thinks he can use that to intimidate Nigerians. I am not one of those who will succumb to blackmail or intimidation,” the minister said.
In his defence, the commanding naval officer maintained that his team was acting under superior instructions, claiming that the documents related to the land had been duly submitted to the relevant authorities for verification.
“This is not an illegal development,” he asserted, adding, “I have forwarded all the documents to the officials in charge.”
MEANWHILE, former Minister of Aviation and governance expert, Osita Chidoka, has called on Wike to apologise to a law enforcement officer allegedly subjected to abusive language, emphasising that ministers must exercise authority through proper channels, not personal presence.
Chidoka, in a statement on his Facebook page yesterday, said any officer, in uniform or plain clothes, represents the President and the sovereignty of Nigeria.
“To abuse such an officer is to diminish the authority of the Republic itself,” he noted. He described Wike’s decision to personally enforce a directive at a disputed site as a “fundamental misstep.”
