Wike talks tough as he resumes FCT ministerial post, vows to step on toes

Newly inaugurated Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has warned that it will no longer be business as usual as he resumes for duties shortly after President Bola Tinubu concluded the inauguration of his cabinet at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday.

The former Rivers State governor who arrived at FCTA at about 1:20 pm after the swearing-in ceremony along with the minister of state, Mariya Mahmud, warned those “distorting” the master plan of the FCT to “expect demolition of their properties soon.”

Wike who addressed a press conference on resumption of office, said his administration will demolish all illegal structures regardless of how highly-placed the owners are.

“All those people who are distorting the master plan of Abuja, too bad! If you know you’ve built where you’re not supposed to build, it will go down,” he said.

Read also: Wike gets FCT ministry, Umahi works as Tinubu assigns portfolios to ministers

“Be you a minister or ambassador, if you know you have developed where you are 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 hate yourself.

“Those who have taken over the parks and green areas as where you now do restaurants, we would not accept that. It will go down.

“And all those people who are doing land racketeering, that period is over. And those that the government have allocated lands to them and they refused to develop, the land is gone.

“I’m going to revoke them because I don’t understand how land that you may have paid for N200,000, you now begin to find who will buy it for N2 billion. Who does that?

“We will take back our land and give to those who want to develop. And you must sign that you must develop at a certain time,” he added.

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