The Senior Special Assistant to the Federal Capital Territory Minister on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, has stated that the People’s Democratic Party elders, including Chief Bode George, should be held responsible for the party’s failure to pay ground rent for 28 years, which led to the revocation of its national secretariat in Abuja.
He dismissed claims that FCT Minister Nyesom Wike was targeting the PDP.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday, Olayinka criticised Chief Bode George, a former member of the PDP National Working Committee, for blaming Wike over the revocation. He described it as ironic that George, who was part of the party’s leadership when the purchase of the Wadata Plaza National Secretariat was left incomplete, would now accuse Wike of crossing the red line.
Bode George, in a television interview on Friday, claimed that Wike’s decision to revoke the PDP’s national secretariat was an open declaration of war against the party.
Responding, Olayinka said it was unfortunate that elders like Chief Bode George would ignore the facts regarding the revocation of 4,794 land titles due to non-payment of ground rent for as long as 43 years.
He asked, “Why didn’t the PDP pay ground rent for 20 years on its Plot No. 243 national secretariat (under construction), which is the only property belonging to the party among the 4,794 revoked titles? How is the government’s enforcement of the consequences of land title owners’ refusal to pay ground rent a declaration of war? Should the FCTA under Wike have treated PDP differently from the 4,794 owners of land titles that were revoked over failure to pay ground rent?”
Olayinka further clarified that the Wadata Plaza property currently being used as the PDP secretariat was not owned by the party but by Senator Samaila Mamman Kurfi, who purchased it from Wadata Enterprises Nigeria Limited.
“The PDP offered to buy the Wadata Plaza property in 2005, and when the Minister’s Consent was sought, the party was asked to pay N26.9 million. The money was never paid.
“The party wrote a letter to Malam Nasir El-Rufai, the FCT Minister then, to waive the payment, claiming that it lacked the financial capacity to pay, but he (El-Rufai) insisted the party must pay.
“El-Rufai, who insisted PDP must do the right thing by paying the necessary fees to the government, was a member of the party then, and Chief Bode George, who was in the PDP NWC, did not go to national television to accuse him (El-Rufai) of declaring war against the party. And if the owner did not pay ordinary N2.8 million as 28 years ground rent, who is to blame?
“On the PDP national secretariat at Central Area, is it the fault of Wike that a mere N7.6 million was owed as 20 years ground rent despite that over N21 billion was raised in 2014 for the completion of the building?”
Advising Chief Bode George to act objectively, Olayinka said, “What should have been done was to seek information rather than going on television to advertise hatred against a minister who is simply doing his job without looking at people’s faces.
“If Chief Bode George had sought necessary information and refrained from acting out of hatred for Wike, it would have been known to him that also affected by the revocation were government-owned institutions like Central Bank of Nigeria, Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Borno State Government, Nigerian Television Authority, Niger Delta Development Commission, National Universities Commission, Kaduna State Government, Nigerian Port Authority, News Agency of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, University of Calabar, Nigerian Postal Service, and Power Holding Company of Nigeria.
“And like I asked earlier, if Chief Bode George were to be the FCT Minister, would he have treated PDP differently from the other 4,793 land title owners?”
On loyalty and commitment to the PDP, Olayinka concluded that the electoral outcomes in Wike’s Rivers State and Chief Bode George’s Lagos State from 1998 to date speak for themselves.
