Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Publicity and Communications to the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, has revealed that a retired Chief of Naval Staff was duped in a land transaction, leading to Tuesday’s heated confrontation between the minister and military personnel in Abuja.
Olayinka made this disclosure during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday, explaining the circumstances surrounding the controversial incident that has dominated public discourse.
The presidential aide traced the genesis of the dispute to 2007, when Santos Estate Limited received allocation for a plot meant strictly for park and recreational purposes in the Mabushi axis of Abuja.
“That particular land was allocated to a company in 2007, Santos Estate Limited, for park and recreation. The company did not do anything on the land because that place is a parkway, it’s a walkway, it’s a road corridor. You don’t build there,” Olayinka stated.
He disclosed that Santos Estate Limited approached the FCT Administration in 2022 seeking conversion of the land from recreational to commercial use, but the request was rejected.
“In 2022, the minister of FCT declined that request. Wike was not the minister then,” he clarified.
Despite the official rejection, Olayinka alleged that Santos Estate Limited proceeded to illegally subdivide the protected land and sold portions to unsuspecting buyers, including Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo (retd), the former Chief of Naval Staff.
“Probably in anticipation of the minister’s approval for conversion, the man decided to partition the land, a land allocated to him for park and recreation. He now partitioned the land and sold it to people, including the former Chief of Naval Staff,” he explained.
Olayinka expressed disappointment at the retired military officer’s approach to resolving the matter, accusing him of attempting to deploy military force rather than seeking legal redress.
“That is why I want to say that the Chief of Naval Staff was scammed. He has realised that he was scammed. Instead of him to now come out and seek help, he resorted to use military might,” the aide said.
“After selling land allocated to you for park and recreation, for people to build a house, who should the Chief of Naval Staff go and hold? The person who’s claiming or the government? He chose not to hold the person who’s scammed, the company who’s scammed,” he added.
The Wike aide further emphasised that the disputed area has been designated for public and corporate structures, not private residential buildings, making any personal housing development illegal.
He challenged Vice Admiral Gambo to produce valid documentation proving ownership of the property.
“As of today, Vice Admiral Gambo does not have a document, a title document, showing that he owns the land. He does not own the land,” Olayinka declared.
He outlined the standard procedures required before any development can commence in the FCT, questioning whether the retired naval chief followed due process.
“Assuming we’re not conceding that he has title documents and he owns the land, before you begin development of a land, there are processes you must pass through. One of such processes is to have a building plan, building plan showing what you want to put on the land. And you take your building plan to the development control,” he explained.
“The question Nigerians should ask Vice Admiral Gambo is, did he take his building plan on that land to development control? And did development control approve the building plan?” Olayinka queried.
The controversy erupted after a video showing Minister Wike in a tense exchange with naval officers guarding the disputed property went viral on social media platforms.
The footage has sparked nationwide debate about land administration in the nation’s capital, the relationship between civilian authorities and the military, and concerns over possible abuse of power by influential individuals.
