The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, on Monday, took a swipe at a member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Board of Trustees, Bode George, over his comment on the ground rent the PDP owes the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
The BoT member had last Tuesday said Wike should have paid the ground rent, which led to the the sealing of the PDP’s national secretariat, to demonstrate his loyalty to the party as a major beneficiary.
But while speaking during a live interview with select journalists on Monday, the minister said though neither he nor George could pay the debt because it was not in their names, the BoT member was also indebted to the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
He said, “I read what he said. If an old man has no job, sit down in your house and read newspapers. Bode George said the PDP made me, and PDP gave me a national name. I agree.
“A party cannot make you; you are the one that will make the party popular to win an election. I agree that the PDP made me.”
Wike also said that, unlike his counterparts in Lagos, he laboured for the PDP and ensured that it won in Rivers and at the centre.
He said, “Ask Bode George, ‘Who did the PDP make in Lagos since 1999?’ Not anyone and then you are talking to me who has laboured, campaigned, and won for the party to be the major party in the state and at the national level.
“Meanwhile in your state, the party every day is crying, complaining from 1999. Even when we were in power, we knew what we did to make sure that PDP took over in Lagos. It didn’t work; even when Jonathan came, it didn’t work.”
George, while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on May 29, 2025, said it was painful that the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, under whose authority the FCTA carried out the action, is a member of the PDP.
“What is ₦7 million? He should have just said to them, ‘Okay, ₦7 million, I’ll pay from my pocket. Take the receipt back to the party’s secretariat. You see, you people are foolish.
“‘I’m completely committed to this house; I am completely loyal to this house. I will not decimate it. This is the receipt, give me back my money.’ That is what you call a true son of that family,” he added.
Officials of the FCTA sealed the PDP headquarters, also known as Wadata Plaza, in Abuja last Monday during the enforcement of the revocation of 4,794 properties for non-payment of ground rent, which ranged from 10 to 43 years.
Properties owned by government institutions, corporate organisations, and individuals were also affected.
Defaulters were later granted a 14-day grace period to settle their ground rents, along with associated penalties, following the intervention of President Bola Tinubu.
