Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has broken his silence on allegations that he allocated 41 plots of land to his two sons.
Reports claimed that the FCT minister allocated 2,082 hectares of land in Maitama and Asokoro to his son through a farming company, Joaq Farms and Estates Limited.
However, the minister has described the claims as “sponsored blackmail” allegedly orchestrated by a “failed politician from Adamawa State.”
Wike, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) currently serving in the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal administration, addressed the matter during a media chat on Thursday in Abuja.
Dismissing the reports as baseless, Wike said he would not name the individual behind the allegations, noting that doing so would serve no purpose in advancing national development. However, he insisted that no such land allocations had been made to his children.
The minister’s reaction follows an earlier rebuttal issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, who described the accusations as part of a coordinated misinformation campaign.
“Last week, false propaganda claimed Minister Wike allocated 2,082 hectares of land in Asokoro and Maitama to one of his sons, despite no such land being available in these areas. They fabricated this claim using a document about land allocation for farming in Bwari Area Council to a company called JOAQ Farms,” Olayinka stated.
“This week, they are spreading more falsehoods about land allocation to another son, based on documents showing land allocation to Jordan Farms,” he added.
Olayinka emphasised that while the minister’s children—like any other Nigerian citizens—have the legal right to own land in the FCT, provided they follow due process, no such allocations have been made to them.
