The Peoples Democratic Party has strongly criticised the Federal Capital Territory Administration for sealing its national headquarters, Wadata Plaza, in Abuja on Monday, May 26.
The FCTA shut down the building over unpaid ground and tenancy rent. According to officials, the PDP owes about N7.6 million in ground rent, unpaid for 28 years.
The Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagum, described the FCTA’s action as irresponsible. He said the party will challenge it.
Speaking to reporters after a caucus meeting, Damagum said, “The action taken today is not just wrong, it is irresponsible. We will take the necessary legal steps to challenge this.”
He also announced that the caucus meeting was postponed to 10 a.m. on Tuesday. When asked whether the National Executive Council meeting will still hold, he did not give a clear answer.
A senior FCTA official, however, defended the action, saying, “We are only doing our job. This property is on the list of those owing ground rent for many years.”
The Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, had earlier warned that the administration would begin reclaiming properties whose owners failed to pay ground rent. On Sunday, the FCTA said it would enforce the revocation of 4,794 land titles due to unpaid rent stretching from 10 to 43 years.
Lere Olayinka, a media aide to the FCT Minister, confirmed the debt in a post on Facebook. He wrote, “On Wadata Plaza being used as PDP National Secretariat, N7,603,504.31 is being owed as 28 years’ Ground Rent.”
Wadata Plaza was not the only property sealed on Monday. Wuzup Nigeria had earlier reported the sealing of buildings used by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Access Bank, and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, all located in Wuse Zone 5 by the FCTA.
According to Olayinka, the FIRS has not paid ground rent for 25 years.
This is part of the FCTA’s broader move to recover over N6 billion in lost revenue due to years of non-payment.
