By Mark Mayah
Following threats by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to lock down buildings over what it termed “non-payment of ground rents,” officials from the FCTA have carried out the threats.
The leadership of the FCTA, under Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, sealed the premises of the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over unpaid ground rent.
On Monday afternoon, a group of FCTA staff locked the entrance gate of Wadata Plaza, the PDP’s national secretariat located in Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.
Ground rent is a yearly fee landowners pay for the right to occupy and use their land.
It would be recalled that in March 2025, Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), revoked 4,794 land titles in the country’s capital.
The decision was reached over alleged non-payment of ground rents.
Speaking earlier at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Mukhtar Galadima, Director, Department of Development Control, noted that the FCTA would seal up the affected properties on Monday (today).
The revocation was conveyed in a letter dated March 13, 2025, titled, “Notice of Right of Occupancy with File No: MISC 81346 in Respect of Plot No: 243 within Central Area District, Abuja.”
The letter was signed by the Director of Land Administration (FCTA), Chijioke Nwankwoeze.
According to him, the PDP had failed to pay the required annual ground rents for the property from January 1, 2006, to January 1, 2025, despite repeated notifications through national dailies and electronic media.
“I have been directed to refer to the above Right of Occupancy granted to PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP), NATIONAL SECRETARIAT and inform you that the Minister of Federal Capital Territory has in the exercise of powers conferred on him under the Land Use Act No. 6 of 1978, Cap. L5, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, revoked your rights, interests and privileges over Plot No. 243 within Central Area, Cadastral Zone A00, Abuja,” the letter read.
