Mohamed Garba
The national headquarters of Nigeria’s main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), remained under lock and key Wednesday morning despite President Bola Tinubu’s explicit directive to reopen properties sealed over unpaid ground rents. This development escalates a political crisis pitting the presidency against the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) led by Minister Nyesom Wike, a PDP renegade now serving in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government.
At approximately 11:00 a.m. today, it was confirmed that both entrances to the PDP’s Wadata Plaza headquarters in Wuse Zone 5 still bore FCTA seals and padlocks. Party staff and private security personnel milled around the premises, unable to access their offices. One staff member, speaking anonymously, revealed a troubling pattern: “I was here yesterday when FCTA staff unsealed FIRS, Ibro Hotel, and NAPTIP. But when they approached our office, they abruptly drove away. The Lands Director told me they’re ‘awaiting instructions from AGIS’ to unseal PDP.”
FCTA task forces sealed 4,794 properties across Abuja, including the PDP secretariat, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and NNPC headquarters, citing non-payment of ground rents spanning 10–43 years, totaling ₦6.96 billion.
President Tinubu intervened, ordering the FCTA to unseal all properties and granting defaulters a 14-day grace period to settle debts with penalties ranging from ₦2–₦5 million. Forty-eight hours after Tinubu’s order, the PDP secretariat remained the only major property still sealed.
FCTA Director of Land Administration, Chijioke Nwankwoeze, insists the PDP’s building owner, Senator Samaila Mamman Kurfi, owes 28 years of ground rent—a debt the administration claims justifies revocation under Section 28 of the Land Use Act. The FCTA maintains this is a routine enforcement, with Wike’s aide, Lere Olayinka, stating: “We’ve sealed banks, hotels, and FIRS. This isn’t politics.”
PDP leaders vehemently reject the FCTA’s neutrality claims, framing the sealing as a targeted attack by Wike, a former PDP governor now aligned with the APC.
The sealing coincides with PDP’s 99th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting—forced to relocate to Bauchi Governor’s Lodge. The party remains divided over whether to expel Wike and allies like ex-Benue Governor Samuel Ortom, whom Lamido accuses of “anti-party activities.”
Despite Tinubu’s intervention easing immediate tensions, PDP’s communiqué warns of an APC plot to impose “a one-party totalitarian state.”
