Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the major opposition party in the country, is facing revocation of its land title over non-payment of Ground Rents, aide to FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, revealed.
The party had ruled for 22 years, before the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) launched major attacks and seized power from it.
The FCT administration had revoked the land title allocated to the PDP for its national secretariat due to unpaid ground rents spanning 20 years.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Friday, Bode George, a PDP stalwart, had accused Wike of crossing the red line by revoking the party’s national secretariat land title in Abuja.
In a statement on Saturday, Lere Olayinka, senior special assistant on public communications and social media to Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), says Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elders like Bode George should be blamed for the party’s failure to pay ground rent.
Olayinka said the FCT minister was simply enforcing the consequences of the party’s failure to pay the ground rent, alongside over 4,000 land title owners.
“Why didn’t the PDP pay Ground Rent for 20 years on its Plot No. 243 national secretariat (under construction), which is the only property belonging to the party among the 4,794 revoked titles?” he asked.
“How’s government’s enforcement of the consequences of land title owners’ refusal to pay ground rent declaration of war?
“Should the FCTA under Wike have treated PDP differently from the 4,794 owners of land titles that were revoked over failure to pay Ground Rent?”
Olayinka said the Wadata Plaza property being used as secretariat by the PDP is not owned by the party, but belongs to Samaila Mamman Kurfi, a senator, who bought it from Wadata Enterprises Nigeria Limited.
“The PDP offered to buy the Wadata Plaza property in 2005, and when the minister’s consent was sought, the party was asked to pay N26.9 million. The money was never paid,” the statement reads.
“The party wrote a letter to Malam Nasir el-Rufai, the FCT minister then, to waive the payment, claiming that it lacked the financial capacity to pay, but he (El-Rufai) insisted the party must pay.
“El-Rufai, who insisted PDP must do the right thing by paying the necessary fees to the government was a member of the party then, and Chief Bode George, who was in the PDP NWC, did not go to national television to accuse him (El-Rufai) of declaring war against the party.t
“On the PDP national secretariat at Central Area, is it the fault of Wike that a mere N7.6 million was owed as 20 years ground rent despite that over N21 billion was raised in 2014 for the completion of the building?”
The spokesperson said George should have sought information, rather than going on television to “advertise hatred” against a minister who is simply doing his job.
“If Chief Bode George had sought necessary information and refrained himself from acting out of hatred for Wike, it would have been known to him that also affected by the revocation were government owned institutions like Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Borno State Government, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), National Universities Commission (NUC), Kaduna State Government, Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, University of Calabar and Nigerian Postal Service and Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN),” he added.
“And like I asked earlier, if Chief Bode George were to be the FCT Minister, would he have treated PDP differently from the other 4,793 land title owners?”
PDP Secretariat in limbo
PDP abandoned the construction of its 12-storey new secretariat due to paucity of funds long ago.
BNL Construction and Engineering Company handling the construction of the edifice had since moved out of site following the inability of the party to provide more funds for the project.
The project is located on Muhammadu Buhari Way in the Central Business District of Abuja.
An anonymous said the company withdrew from the site in 2014 because the party, which only left power at the centre about 18 months ago, could no longer mobilise money to continue the project.
The construction of a new secretariat was conceived in 2008 by Ahmadu Ali, the fourth national chairman of the PDP, due to inadequate office space in the present secretariat in Zone 5, Wuse District of the federal capital.
John Odey, who was the party’s spokesperson when the project was conceived, told PREMIUM TIMES that Namadi Sambo, an architect and former vice president of Nigeria, was mandated by the party to produce the project design.
On November 14, 2008, the party’s new National Chairman, Vincent Ogbulafor, who had assumed office in March, organised a fund raising dinner in Abuja to raise the initial N10 billion targeted to commence the project.
At the dinner chaired by the then vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, over N6 billion was raised for the project with businessman, Femi Otedola, donating the highest amount of N1 billion and his late father, Michael Otedola donating N25 million.
Other major donors included Aliko Dangote who promised to supply cement worth N3 billion; the PDP National Working Committee, N1 billion; Bola Shagaya, N25 million; Strabag Construction Company N100 million; Ogun State, N10 million; and an anonymous donor, N100 million.
Late President Umaru Yar’Adua and his then deputy, Mr. Jonathan, contributed N527,205 and N454,735, representing 15 per cent of their basic salaries, respectively.
Mr. Ogbulafor had earlier announced that each of the party’s 28 state governors at the time would contribute N50 million towards the project.
