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The Senior Special Assistant on Publicity and Communications to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, Mr Lere Olayinka, has defended his principal over the recent confrontation with a naval officer in Abuja, saying the incident stemmed from a land scam that deceived a former naval chief.
Speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Wednesday, Olayinka explained that the disputed land had been allocated in 2007 to a company named Santos Estate Limited for park and recreational purposes, not for 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, a walkway, a road corridor. You don’t build there,” he said.
He stated that in 2022, the company applied to the FCT Administration for a change of land use from park to commercial, but the request was rejected.
“In 2022, the minister of FCT declined that request. Wike was not the minister then,” Olayinka clarified.
Despite the rejection, he said, the company illegally partitioned the land and sold plots to private individuals, among them a 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,” Olayinka stated.
The minister’s aide claimed that the retired naval officer, after discovering he had been duped, chose instead to use military influence to enforce ownership over the land.
“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 scammed him—the company who scammed,” he said.
Olayinka emphasised that the disputed plot lies in the Mabushi area, which is designated for public and corporate developments, not private housing. He added that Vice Admiral Gambo had no valid title or approved building plan for the land.
“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,” he said.
He further explained that before any construction begins, necessary approvals such as a valid building plan must be obtained from the Development Control Department.
“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?” Olayinka asked.
The statement came after a viral video surfaced showing Minister Nyesom Wike confronting naval personnel guarding a property reportedly linked to the retired naval officer. The clash has since triggered widespread public discussion on land administration, military involvement in civil matters, and abuse of authority in the nation’s capital.
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