By Emeka Okafor
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has vowed to hit the ground running by ensuring the original masterplan of the city of Abuja was strictly followed by all.
Wike, however, threatened to demolished any building flouting the development of the Nation seat of power.
The immediate past Rivers State governor spoke on Monday at Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) office after his swearing-in by President Bola Tinubu as FCT minister.
He said he would not hesitate to step on toes when necessary, stressing that the administration of President Tinubu is determined to clear the city of all illegal buildings and structures.
The FCT Minister said houses that had been built to distort the Abuja Masterplan, as well as built on green areas, will also be demolished, no matter who it did or did not belong to.
According to the FCT minister, “All those people who are distorting the Masterplan of Abuja, too bad. If you know you have built where you are not supposed to build, it will go down.
“Be you a Minister of anywhere, be you an ambassador, if you know you have developed where you were not supposed to develop, your house must go down.
“Those who have taken over the green areas to build, sorry, our parks must come back, the green areas must come back. If you hate green, you must hate yourself.”
Speaking further, Wike warned that the current administration will end land racketeering in the FCT.
“The big and mighty, I will step on them. If you are doing what is wrong, I will do what I am supposed to do”, noting that his task was to return the FCT to what it used to be, rather than as a witch hunt against anyone.
“The period of land racketeering is over; those government has given C of O and they refuse to develop; the land is gone. I’m going to revoke them. We will take back the land and give it to those who want to develop. Those of you who also have refused to pay your ground rent. non-payment of ground rent is a breach of covenant. Abuja needs money too. The source of the revenue includes ground rent. So, if you have not paid, I won’t be tired to revoke”, he added.
