Lere Olayinka, the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Public Communication and New Media, has said only the minister, Nyesom Wike, can restore the revoked land title of the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The revocation of the land was announced in a letter signed by the FCT Director of Lands, Chijioke Nwanwkoeze, who stated that only one of the properties belonged to the PDP.

According to Nwanwkoeze, the present Secretariat building, located in Wuse, belonged to Senator Samaila Mamman Kurfi.

Addressing the controversy surrounding the FCT’s decision, Olayinka told Arise TV that the PDP couldn’t get a treatment different from what other landowners in the FCT face.

He stated that instead of whipping sentiments, the leaders of the PDP should write to the minister on when the party will settle its debt.

He said, “That Wadata Plaza does not belong to the PDP. It belongs to Senator Samaila Mamman Kurfi, and the letter of revocation was sent to him at his address in Kaduna. It was only the property in the Central Area, that is the Secretariat under construction, that belonged to the PDP. That was the property on which PDP received a revocation letter.

“And the moment your property is revoked, the only person who can restore your property is the Minister. Because what the PDP has done in the last few days is to brickbat, propaganda in the media, trying to whip up sentiment, whipping up emotion. This and that, Wike is a PDP member.

“So because Wike is a PDP member, he should treat PDP differently from the other 4,793 people? If the PDP wants a redress or it wants the matter to be looked into, like every other person affected, they can write to the minister, state where they did not pay, and say, Honourable Minister, give us another chance, we will pay. And probably, if you penalise us too, we’ll pay a penalty. As of today, I’m not sure they have done that. If they do that, maybe or maybe not. But as of today, those 4,794 properties now belong to the Federal Capital Territory Administration.”

Further speaking, Olayinka dismissed claims that the revocation was politically motivated.

Olayinka added, “Wike, the FCT minister, is a PDP member; he remains in PDP. But we have never been involved in the administration of PDP. The only thing people outside the NWC can do would be to support the party, probably financially, morally. But those who are directly involved in the party’s administration are the one who knows what to pay and what not to pay.

“A list of 8,375 land titles was presented to the minister as landowners who have not paid ground rent for like one to 43 years. So you expect the minister to start looking (6:51) at the 8,375 names one by one to see whether PDP is there? No, he won’t.

“He did not even look at the list. They presented a list of those who have not paid, and they said that those who have not paid for 10 to 43 years, the land should be revoked (4,794). Even the minister was not aware that the PDP was there. Like I’ve said here, Wike does his job without looking at people’s faces.”