The Senior Special Assistant on Publicity and Communications to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, Mr Lere Olayinka, has defended his principal’s conduct during Tuesday’s confrontation with a naval officer in Abuja.
Olayinka said the clash stemmed from an alleged fraudulent land transaction that deceived a former naval chief into buying a plot that was never meant for private use.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, he revealed that the disputed property was initially allotted in 2007 to Santos Estate Limited for park and recreation purposes, not residential or commercial development.
“That particular land was allocated to a company in 2007, Santos Estate Limited, for park and recreation.
“The company did not do anything on the land because that place is a parkway, it’s a walkway, it’s a road corridor. You don’t build there,” Olayinka said.
He explained that in 2022, the company sought to convert the land use from park to commercial, but the FCT Administration rejected the request.
“In 2022, the minister of FCT declined that request. Wike was not the minister then,” he noted.
According to him, despite the rejection, the company illegally subdivided the land and sold it to unsuspecting buyers, including the former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo (retd).
“Probably in anticipation of the minister’s approval for conversion, the man decided to partition the land, a land allocated to him for park and recreation.
“He now partitioned the land and sold it to people, including the former Chief of Naval Staff,” he explained.
Olayinka alleged that rather than addressing the fraud legally, the retired naval officer attempted to leverage military influence to claim ownership of the property.
“That is why I want to say that the Chief of Naval Staff was scammed. He has realised that he was scammed. Instead of him to now come out and seek help, he resorted to use military might.
“After selling land allocated to you for park and recreation, for people to build a house, who should the Chief of Naval Staff go and hold? The person who’s claiming or the government?
“He chose not to hold the person who’s scammed, the company who’s scammed,” he added.
The minister’s aide clarified that the land, situated in Mabushi, is zoned for public and corporate buildings, not private housing.
“Again, that particular portion has now been designated for the purpose of, you know, if you know Abuja very well, you know how Mabushi is.
“That is where you have Ministry of Works environment. That portion of the land, that pathway is for public buildings and corporate buildings, not residential, meaning that you cannot build residential house there.
“As of today, Vice Admiral Gambo does not have a document, a title document, showing that he owns the land. He does not own the land,” Olayinka said.
He further argued that even if Gambo possessed a valid title, he failed to follow due process before starting development.
“Assuming we’re not conceding that he has title documents and he owns the land, before you begin development of a land, there are processes you must pass through.
“One of such processes is to have a building plan, building plan showing what you want to put on the land. And you take your building plan to the development control.
“The question Nigerians should ask Vice Admiral Gambo is, ‘Did he take his building plan on that land to development control? And did development control approve the building plan?’”
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