By Folorunso Alagbede, in Abuja
The Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Lere Olayinka has ruled out politics in the sealing of the national secretariat of the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The need to enforce compliance to statutory regulations was the driving motive, Olayinka said.
The national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, situated in Michael Opara Street, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja, has been sealed by officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) over unpaid accumulated ground rent.
The FCDA enforcement team, made up of Policemen, soldiers, operatives of Department of States Services, DSS, National Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Road Traffic Department, VIO and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency among others, arrived the PDP office, popularly known as Wadata House by 2: 04pm on Monday, May 26.
The gates to the PDP headquarters were already locked when the team arrived. After waiting for about three minutes without having access to the Wadata House, some of the members of the team sealed the office while another person chained the gates from outside.
However, after a brief meeting with the management staff of the party, the sealed gate was reopened temporarily to enable staff move out their vehicles and personal belongings after which it was locked again.
The closure came an hour to the scheduled board of trustees (BoT) meeting of the PDP preparatory to the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for Tuesday,May 27.
Meanwhile, the party National Caucus meeting is presently holding at Bauchi State Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.
Answering questions from Journalists after the sealing of the PDP national secretariat, the Director, Land Administrator in FCTA, Mr Chijioke Nwankwoeze, said, “Just like we briefed you last Friday that the FCT administration will commence the taking of possession of the 4,794 properties revoked for non-payment of ground rents, we started this morning we’ve gone to a number of properties and sealed them as we did say we will do.
“We are now at Wadata Plaza, where the PDP is occupying, that’s the property belonging to Senator Samaila Mamman Kofi that the PDP is occupying. I think this is the 9th or 10th site that we visited today and that we are sealing.
“So, simply to take physical possession of the property, the property had since March been revoked and we’ve repeatedly told the holders to ensure that they vacate that because we said it at that time that the FCTA will take possession of those properties in due course and that is what we have come to do today”, he explained.
When asked if the owners the sealed properties, particularly PDP, were duly notified, the Director answered in the affirmative.
His words, “Yes, the property holder whom we deal with, we don’t deal with occupants, we deal with property owners, we don’t deal with occupants or tenants. Senator Samaila Mamman Kofi was duly served the revocation notice and out of abundance of caution, we also came here and pasted the revocation notice served on Samaila Mamman Kofi at his Kaduna address, the address on record.
“Samaila Mamman Kofi is the owner of the property and the address we have in our records for him is that of Kaduna and we duly served him. This is a copy of the revocation notice and the evidence of service. It was served since the 14th of March 2025 and a copy of this was duly pasted at the gate of this building.
“So I don’t know if you are talking of writing to PDP, we don’t normally write to tenants or occupants, we write to the owners of the property, that is the with whom we have a contract”, he said.
Also speaking in front of the sealed PDP headquarters, the Senior Special Assistant (Media), Mr Lere Olayinka ruled out political witch hunting in the action.
According to Olayinka, “We are not here for politics. If you are talking about political witch hunt, we have been to Ibro hotels, we have been to Access Bank, we have been to FIRS, we have been to Total Petrol Station, we are also still going to other places, and tomorrow we will go to other places.
“This exercise will continue as long as we are able to conclude the taking possession of those over 4,000 properties.
“So are we also going to say all those ones that I mentioned are for politics? Moreover, this place is not owned by the PDP”, he said
