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Abuja residents to Wike: We’re not dragging power with you!
All we are asking for is to survive as humans, were the words with which residents of Abuja suburbs, appealed to the conscience of Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), currently carrying out a massive onslaught that has culminated in many of them being displaced.
Regardless, the Minister in waving aside their pleas, is insisting that he would not yield any ground in his determination to clean up the FCT and return it to its original glory.
He said on Sunday that neither the appeal to emotions nor pressure from human rights crusaders, which he dismissed as blackmail would deter him.
Against the backdrop of interventions by some elements in the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and rights activists, calling for a cessation of demolition exercises in the city, the Minister who spoke while visiting the demolished Ruga settlement alongside heads of security agencies in the FCT, vowed not to relent.
The Minister after a security council meeting on Sunday evening, was apparently referring specifically to the actions of human rights lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, and controversial social media critic, Vincent Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, who joined some residents in protest on Friday, against the demolition carried out by the Department of Development Control, particularly their call for President Bola Tinubu to stop him from further action.
Wike, who maintained that the administration was only interested in protecting lives and property in the FCT and ensuring that Abuja was one of the best cities in the world, added: “I must also say that no amount of blackmail, no amount of intimidation, no amount of abuses; we must go around to do our jobs. It doesn’t matter who they go and hire, they call them civil society or not civil society, we are not interested in that.
“Our interest is to protect lives and property, to safeguard Abuja so that it will be one of the best cities in the world. As far as this road is concerned, we have told them nobody is going to build anything, whether temporary or permanent. We will not allow them until the government has made a final decision on what to do on this piece of land.
“As of yesterday being Saturday, you may not believe it, myself, the Director of Land and Development Control, we went round, we saw so many shanties, so many areas that they converted to bus stops and the rest.
“And we have decided that some of these areas will be converted to new bus terminals, and such shanties will be demolished to allow for good environment, orderliness and for people to carry out their businesses.”
Wike also directed that five representatives of the residents should meet with the heads of security agencies and the directors of Land and Development Control, to give recommendations to the administration on what should be done.
Abba Garu, who spoke on behalf of the settlers, pleaded with the Minister to provide shelter for them, noting that the latest demolition exercise carried out in the previous week made it the 22nd time such exercise would be carried out by successive administrations.
“We are not dragging anything with the government that we own the land, but we are pleading, please and please, honourable minister, this environment you are seeing is like a mini-Nigeria. Every tribe you check is here because we are lower class people living around.
“We are seeking from the honourable minister’s office to help and assist us, to give us a shelter where we can reside with our people. This place you are seeing, Mr Honourable Minister, we are over 10,000 people in this community. We have four axes. Our people don’t drag with whatever government wants to do with their land, but we are Nigerians.”
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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