By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Director of Lands, Chijioke Nwanwkoeze, has explained why the land title of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was revoked.
Nwanwkoeze said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) failed to pay the ground rent, amounting to N7.6m, for its national secretariat for 28 years.
He made this known on Thursday in Abuja while addressing pressmen on the controversies surrounding the revocation.
Recall that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had revoked the land title of the PDP secretariat located in the Central Area, Abuja.
The revocation notice was contained in a letter dated March 13, 2025, titled “Notice of Revocation of Right of Occupancy with File No. MISC 81346 in respect of Plot No 243 Within Central Area (A00) District, Abuja”.
Following the revocation, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Deborah Ologunagba, in a statement on Wednesday, criticised the move by the FCT minister to revoke land titles of the PDP secretariat at the Wadata Plaza, and its new property under construction.
However, Nwanwkoeze noted that the minister had only revoked the title of property under construction in the Central Area, adding that the Wadata Plaza building did not belong to the PDP in the first place.
“The truth is that the minister revoked 4,794 titles. PDP is just one of them – just one, not two. The title we are talking about that belongs to PDP is only one, the one in the Central Area. Where they are occupying as their national headquarters is not their property. That is the clarification that people need to know.
“The property belongs to one Samaila Maman Ofi, who bought it from Wadata and got his papers registered by way of assignment. So, on that property, 28 years of ground rent is being owed. 28 years, from 1998 to 2025.
They are owing N7,603,504.31 for 28 years. And we put out notices for people to come and pay, or risk having their titles revoked. From 2023 till now, that is about a year and a half from when those publications started, they did not pay. And the minister had to do what he needed to do – not just on that, but on all other titles. And people are telling me we are revoking two property belonging to PDP. That is not true. It is only one that belongs to PDP, the one in the central area,” he said.
Nwanwkoeze further disclosed that the revocation notice for the Wadata Plaza property in Wuse Zone 5 had been served on the owner in Kaduna, adding that a notice could not be served on the PDP, as they were only tenants rather than title holders.
“The revocation notice has been served on him at his Kaduna address – the address on record. We did not serve any such notice on the PDP. The only one we served on them was the one for the Central Area.
“You don’t serve a revocation notice on a tenant or an occupier. You serve it on the title holder – that is what the law says. So, for clarity purposes, it is only one property owned by PDP that was revoked under those circumstances.”
The FCT director also refuted claims that the revocation exercise was targeted at PDP, noting that the exercise equally affected government institutions, private organizations and individuals who has also failed to make ground rent payments for more than 40 years.
“And I want to also mention that we are talking about 4,794 titles. There are so many people who are affected. Government institutions, private organisations, private individuals…
“It is not only PDP. So, I don’t know where the information about the revocation being targeted at the PDP is coming from. So, let that be noted by the public, please. As we mentioned the other day, some people are owing grants for about 43 years, so many 42, 41, and so on. 43 years is almost half of the lifetime of that grant. Remember, these grants are made for 99 years, most of them. So, half of it is 49.5 years, and somebody is owing grants for about half of the life of that grant. That is not good enough,” Nwanwkoeze stated.
