A political activist and former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has told told President Bola Tinubu to urgently direct the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, to stop the ongoing demolition of the houses of the poor and vulnerable in the city.
He accused the Minister of engaging in demolition and alleged land grabbing in the FCT as a new means of livelihood by allocating revoked plots of land to himself and his cronies.
Frank, in a statement, declared that through the demolitions, the FCT Minister had given the President bad name more than any other appointee in the present administration.
Frank said, “The minister has continued to cause damage to Mr President’s government by his ill-timed demolitions. It will interest you to note that it is alleged that it is a new mode of settlement for Minister Wike.
“He pretends to be doing this for the benefit of the President, but all his activities in the FCT is for his personal benefit.
“Mr President, one of the reasons you are called T-Pain is as a result of Minister Wike’s wickedness and insensitivity as well as intimidation and harassment of the residents of the FCT. For your information sir, the residents of some parts of the FCT have become homeless as a result of his greed and insensitivity.
“It is worthy to note that Wike has revoked more land than any other past minister of the FCT. The revoked land is allegedly given almost immediately to his cronies, within and outside government, while he asks the victims to go to court to seek redress, when he knows that he has bought the conscience of the judiciary/judges as he has continued to give them land as well as build houses for them, especially in the FCT, for reasons not well defined.
“All his friends from Rivers State and other parts of the country are beneficiaries of the land grabbing as he has allegedly converted the land in FCT to his personal estate without due process and consultation with the National Assembly, particularly the Senate and its committee on FCT.
“I will expose Wike and his friends, both within and outside government at the right time.”
Frank, who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and the Middle East, also accused Wike of equally selling the plots of land to raise money to fight Governor Siminalayi Fubara, instead of focusing on curing the dearth of infrastructure in the FCT, in terms of health, education and renewable energy to generate power for the people of the FCT.
“What he is doing in the FCT presently, was exactly what he did in Rivers State. However, my advice for him is that FCT is not Rivers State.
“My advice to Mr President is to take action immediately by relieving him of his duty before it’s too late.
“If you (President) fail to do so, you will have yourself to blame. Take a decisive action against Wike who wants to destroy your government; don’t be silent in the face of injustice and intimidation against the very people you govern.
“Don’t listen to his tomfoolery as he’s irrelevant both in Rivers and at the National level. Sack him, and you will see how irrelevant he is,” he said.
