The Labour Party has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately relieve the embattled Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, of his position amid exposure of his allocating lands to his sons in Abuja metropolis.
The opposition party’s position followed an exclusive report by Peoples Gazette on how Mr Wike allocated lands totalling 3,822 hectares values at $6.45 billion across the FCT to his two sons, Jordan and Joaquin.
In a statement at the weekend by the spokesman for the LP, Ken Asogwa, the party said President Tinubu has a moral obligation to sack Mr Wike based on the scandal.
The statement said, “With the troubling revelations emerging from the Federal Capital Territory Administration regarding the indiscriminate allocation of vast swathes of land to his children by the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has a moral obligation – if indeed any semblance of decency still exists in the conduct of this administration – to relieve the minister of his duties without further delay.’’
Quoting the Gazette’s exclusive report of how Mr Wike allocated over 2,000 hectares to his first son, Mr Asowgwa noted that the LP expected that the minister would defend himself by setting the record straight but was baffled with the statement by his spokesman that further indicted and exposed Mr Wike’s complicity in the scandal.
Amid the scandal, he noted that the opposition party and many Nigerians had waited, hoping the embattled minister would clarify or retract the embarrassing statement issued on his behalf.
The LP spokesman added that it’s important that Mr Tinubu muster the ‘moral courage to initiate a probe’ into what was clearly a grievous breach of public trust.
He added, “But instead of accountability, we were met with silence – until yet another report surfaced, this time implicating Wike’s second son in a separate episode of illegal land racketeering. In this instance, the defence came directly from the minister himself, who, in a breathtakingly arrogant display, told a bewildered nation that his children, as Nigerians, have every right to apply for and receive land allocations in the FCT. By this admission, Mr. Nyesom Wike has openly confessed to allocating thousands of hectares of public land to his own children – an act that smacks of abuse of office, conflict of interest, and a total disregard for ethical governance.’’
Saying that it’s no longer news that the current administration was burdened by a deficit of moral credibility, the LP said that Mr Tinubu owed Nigerians the courtesy of pretending that some ethical standards remained.
He added, “At the very least, he must demonstrate that public office is not a private estate by immediately relieving Mr. Wike of his position. Anything less would be a tragic endorsement of impunity.”
