Mr. Lere Olayinka, spokesman for Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has fired back at Senator Ireti Kingibe for criticizing the FCT Administration’s crackdown on ground rent defaulters.
Senator Kingibe, representing the FCT under the Labour Party, had openly questioned the legality of the FCTA’s move to seal properties, calling it “unconstitutional.”
According to her, while tax enforcement is important, the failure to pay ground rent does not justify what she described as the arbitrary seizure of property.
In a sharp rebuttal, Olayinka who serves as Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media accused Kingibe of misunderstanding the law, particularly the Land Use Act.
He called her stance “illogical,” stressing that land in the FCT is not handed out without clear obligations. One of those conditions, he said, is the annual payment of ground rent and that it must be done without the need for a demand notice.
Olayinka didn’t stop there.
He urged the senator to resist turning a legal issue into a “cheap political” narrative, especially given her position as a lawmaker.
“It is surprising that a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, whose duty is to make laws, is ignorant of the provisions of Section 28, Subsections (a) and (b) of the Land Use Act.
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“Section 28, Subsections (a) and (b) of the Land Use Act provides that ‘The Government may revoke a Statutory Right of Occupancy on the ground of; (a) a breach of any of the provisions which a certificate of occupancy is by Section 10 deemed to contain; and (b) a breach of any term contained in the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).’”
He then posed a direct question: “Now, is annual payment of ground rent not part of the terms contained in the C of O?”
Olayinka challenged the senator to consider what her own response would be if she were FCT Minister and thousands of allottees refused to pay ground rent for decades.
The clash comes amid the FCTA’s ongoing effort to recover over N6 billion in unpaid ground rent, targeting 4,794 revoked properties across the territory.
President Bola Tinubu has since granted a 14-day grace period for defaulters to settle their outstanding dues and penalties.