FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike
Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has offered an apology to the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, following the widely circulated altercation between him and armed naval personnel at a construction site in Gaduwa.
At the Executive Committee meeting held on Thursday, senior officials detailed the events that triggered the standoff and maintained that the structure under contention was an unlawful development.
Director of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima, began his briefing with a public apology to the Minister
He recounted that, during a routine monitoring exercise on October 17, his team discovered active construction along the Southern Parkway corridor. When officers requested to see the project’s approval documents, the naval personnel on site allegedly responded aggressively and issued threats.
Galadima said that when documentation was eventually presented, it amounted only to a 2007 letter of intent from the Department of Parks and Recreation—far from the official approval required to build within the FCT.
He reminded the site representatives that no development is permitted in Abuja without proper authorisation, yet work continued despite repeated warnings.
He explained that the presence of armed officers taking hostile positions compelled him to escalate the matter to the Minister.
He again apologised to Wike and to Nigerians for the ugly turn of events.
Supporting the account, the Director of Lands Administration, Chijioke Nwankwoeze, stressed that a letter of intent does not confer ownership of land in the FCT.
Only a statutory right of occupancy is recognised, he said, adding that the individuals claiming the land neither fulfilled development conditions nor secured building plan approval.
Both directors maintained that, while the confrontation was regrettable, their enforcement actions strictly adhered to the FCT Act of 1976 and the Urban and Regional Planning Law of 1992—laws designed to safeguard Abuja’s master plan.
