Senior Special Assistant, Public Communications and New Media to the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, Lere Olayinka, has said that the Wadata Plaza does not belong to the People’s Democratic Party, as the PDP has not, since 2005, paid the N26.9 million required in ground rent.
Olayinka said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, where he also criticised the former National Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, for saying that Wike revoking the PDP’s land title of Wadata Plaza was a threat to democracy, calling him the “most incompetent National Public Secretary that PDP has ever produced.”
Olayinka said “Wike, FCT minister, is a PDP member, he remains in PDP. But he has never been, we have never been involved in administration of PDP. The only thing that people outside the NWC can do would be to support the party, morally, financially, anyhow. But those who are directly involved in the party administration are the ones that know what to pay and what not to pay. And when I saw Chief Bode George on Arise TV last week talking about declaration of war, I was shocked. Because as of that time, 2005, 2004, 2003, that PDP failed to pay ground rent on Wadata Plaza, Chief Bode George was in the NWC, Deputy National Chairman of PDP, number two, next to the chairman. So he should know, and that’s why I said, if Nigerians are now being told that PDP did not pay, and not only that PDP did not pay ground rent on Wadata Plaza, Wadata Plaza does not even belong to the PDP.”
He further revealed that many PDP members were unaware that Wadata Plaza was never officially transferred to the party.
“Even me, I did not know until like two weeks ago,” he admitted.
Olayinka explained that the property is owned by Senator Samaila Mamman Kurfi and that while PDP had sought to purchase it in 2005, it failed to meet the required financial obligations.
He explained, “Wadata Plaza is owned by Senator Samaila Mamman Kurfi. Well, PDP wrote to buy the property from Senator Samaila in 2005. And after that, they wrote to the Minister of FCT, Mallam El-Rufai, a member of PDP at that time, that, look, we are buying this property, asking for the Minister’s consent, which is the normal thing you do when you are buying a property. And a response made to PDP – you have to pay this, this, this, this, this, amounting to 26.9 million in 2005.
“Then, the chairman of PDP then, Vincent Ogbulafor, wrote to the FCT Minister, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufau, saying that, oh, that money is too much, we don’t have money to pay. Imagine PDP at that time, party in power everywhere, saying that we don’t have money, 26 million to pay. And El-Rufau responded that, go and pay. El-Rufai was a PDP member at that time. He insisted that PDP must do the right thing, just as Wike is doing now. Chief Bode George was there at that time. He did not say that El-Rufai was declaring war on PDP. And that’s why I said, when elders come out to speak, they should speak from the position of objectives, they should be objective. Not just coming out to speak because I don’t like the face of the people involved.”
Reaffirming that PDP never completed the payment, Olayinka insisted that the plaza remains the property of Kurfi, saying, “PDP up to now, 2005 till now, that 26.9 million Naira was not paid. The implication is that that property has not transferred to PDP. It still belongs to Senator Samaila Mamman Kurfi. So, that plaza does not belong to PDP. So, when I heard that man, Debo Oluguanagba, that I used to call, and I’m saying this here again, if he’s listening – the most incompetent National Public Secretary that PDP has ever produced – he came out to say that it is a fight against democracy, fight against opposition. He is in the NWC that should know that that place does not, on paper, belong to the PDP.”
Olayinka also dismissed claims that Wike’s actions were aimed at undermining PDP, insisting that his role as FCT Minister was in service to the Nigerian government, not the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“There is no leader of the party that is working for the opposition. I know that you are trying to, you are alluding to the fact that Nyesom Wike is a minister in a government of the APC. A minister in a government is not working for the opposition. He is working for the government of Nigeria. He is working for Nigeria. So no PDP leader is working for the opposition. PDP leaders that are in this government are working for the government of Nigeria. They are not working for APC, they are not working for any party,” he said.
