Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has expressed displeasure over comments by the Senator representing the FCT, Ireti Kingibe faulting his decisions on the Ground Rent.
Wike, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, cautioned Kingibe to purge herself of the hatred she is harboring against him and stop seeing issues from the angle of “I hate Wike.”
Describing the Senator’s comment on the enforcement of payment of Ground Rent as ridiculously illogical, the FCT Minister’s spokesperson said land allocation is not unconditional, there are conditions that must be met and one of them is annual payment of Ground Rent.
Kingibe, in a statement on Thursday had said: “It is important to clarify that ground rent, a tax charged and collected by state governments on land granted pursuant to the Lands (Title Vesting, etc.) Act of 1975, is not grounds for arbitrary property takeover. While the government retains the constitutional power to revoke land for overriding public interest, such revocation must strictly follow due legal process as stipulated under the Land Use Act and the Urban and Regional Planning Act, including the payment of due compensation.
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“Therefore, no Nigeria’s property can be lawfully seized, revoked, or sealed solely on account of failure to pay ground rent. The penalty for such default is, by law, limited to a fine or surcharge, not the compulsory taking over or sealing of the property without recourse to the due process prescribed under Section 42 of the Land Use Act and other relevant provisions.
“The indiscriminate and sometimes abrupt sealing of properties, often executed without proper notice, engagement, or adherence to legal procedure, only serves to deepen the economic distress of individuals, families, and business owners already facing mounting hardship. These actions undermine livelihoods, erode public trust in institutions, and risk destabilizing the fragile balance of social and economic stability within the FCT”.
Olayinka said Ireti Kingibe recent diatribe against the FCT Minister was a further advertisement of her ignorance of the Land Use Act and penchant for seeking cheap political gains on every issue.
He said; “It is ridiculously embarrassing 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.
“For the education of Senator Kingibe, 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.
“Now, is the annual payment of Ground Rent not part of the terms contained in the Certificate of Occupancy? Or Senator Kingibe just chose to advertise her myopic attitude to anything Wike?”
The FCT Minister’s spokesperson said; “she should rather have said that landowners in the FCT have rights to refuse to pay necessary bills stated in the Certificate of Occupancy issued to them, and that when they so do, the government should simply pick samba and tambourine, and sing their praises.
“Now, if land allottees refused to pay Ground Rent for 10 to 43 years, would Senator Ireti Kingibe just look away if she was the FCT Minister?”