One hour after taking his oath of office as the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike held his first press conference.
Wike, who arrived at the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA) at about 1:20 pm, immediately held a press conference that was full of threats to residents of Abuja.
Recall that following the appointment of Wike as FCT Minister, Twitter users said his reign as FCT Minister would be marked by demolitions of buildings belonging to the opposition. They jokingly warned that the Wadata Plaza (PDP secretariat) would be pulled down if it has no valid certificate of occupancy.
In his inaugural press conference, the former Rivers state governor confirmed that his tenure in the FCT would indeed be marked by several demolitions.
He said: “All those people who are distorting the master plan of Abuja, too bad. If you know you have built where you are not supposed to build, it will go down. Be you minister of anywhere, an Ambassador, if you know you have developed where you are not supposed to develop, it will go down
“Those who have taken over the green areas to build, sorry, our parks must come back. If you know anybody who has taken over the green areas or has taken over the parks to where you now do restaurants, we will not accept that.
“Sorry, if your father has done that. If your mother has done that, sorry. There is nothing I can do. It will go down.
‘And all those people who are doing land racketing, sorry. I will talk to the staff tomorrow. That period is over.
“And those that the government have given Certificate of Occupancy of land and refuse to develop the land, and they are using it to speculate, the land is gone. I am going to revoke them.
“Those of you who also have refused to pay your ground rent…nonpayment of ground rent is a breach of covenant. So, if you have not paid, I will not be tired to revoke. That is why I am here