Nyesom Wike goes berserk, allocates prime Abuja lands to 90-year-old father, brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews, other cronies – Report

How powerful is Nyesom Wike in Bola Tinubu’s circles? The FCT minister’s latest action suggests he’s wielding an uncheckable deck of political leverage.

In Nigeria’s post-independence history, a few individuals have played outsized roles in successive federal administrations. President Shehu Shagari had Umaru Dikko. General Sani Abacha had Hamza Al-Mustapha.

President Goodluck Jonathan had Diezani Alison-Madueke. Senate President Bukola Saraki informed Nigerians about the emergence of a parallel “government within the government” of Muhammadu Buhari.

Its source notwithstanding, the influence Mr Wike wields over President Tinubu could be the clearest and most profound yet on record.

On July 4, 2025, the Friday after Peoples Gazette published its second investigation in our continuing series exposing how Mr Wike has repurposed land administration to enrich his family, the minister summoned an urgent meeting with town planning bureaucrats at FCTA, where he unfurled a new list of people for expedited land approvals: his family members and friends.

“The minister said he was pissed that the media was making an issue of his decision to allocate lands to his children,” an official with details of how the meeting unfolded told The Gazette, “So he decided to expand his inventory of beneficiaries.”

Officials said Mr Wike gave them 38 names of family and friends to allocate lands, including chums from his teenage years, which prompted them to simultaneously wonder how serious he could possibly be about the assignment.

“We thought it was a prank and assumed among ourselves that he wouldn’t be that reckless,” an official said. “Then he started actually signing the rights of occupancy for the allotments days later.”

On July 16, 2025, two weeks after The Gazette’s story was published, and as a presidential probe into the matter was purportedly underway, Mr Wike signed 33 approvals for his family and friends, according to documents.

Among the beneficiaries were his father, Joshua Nlemanya Wike, who got a piece in Guzape II. The 90-year-old was allocated 1,042 square metres worth N400 million under file number 62783, documents said.

Other family members whose allocations were signed by Mr Wike on July 16, based on the list drawn on July 4, include Believe Wike, paternal cousin; Victor Wike, nephew; Henry Wike, nephew; and Primise Wike, cousin. All the 33 names were from Mr Wike’s home Rivers State, including eight family members of James Hunwo, who received individual allocations on that day.

The five family members who received allocations on July 16 were in addition to the six members who had already been given land in the same Guzape II neighbourhood three months earlier in April, our review showed.

The six beneficiaries of the April 22, 2025, approvals, said to include Mr Wike’s brothers and sisters, were Vincent Ejike Wike, Chidi Sam Wike, Chituru Wike, Christian Ibebulachi Wike, Collins Ngeme Wike and Emmanuel Okanwene Wike.

Vincent Wike received a right of occupancy for 2,200 square metres in Guzape II under file number RV62586; Chidi Wike received a right of occupancy for 2,195 square metres in Guzape II under file number RV62598; Chituru Wike received a right of occupancy for 2,158 square metres in Guzape II under file number RV62599; Christian Wike received a right of occupancy for 2,178 square metres in Guzape II under file number RV62603;  Collins Wike received a right of occupancy for 2,813 square metres in Guzape II under file number RV62604; and Emmanuel Wike received a right of occupancy for 2,716 square metres in Guzape II under file number RV62605.

‘Heavy investment’

Documents seen by The Gazette showed Mr Wike frequently gave verbal directives allowing officers to clear his family members and cronies for land grants without the requisite procedural rigour of payment of statutory bills for the allocations.

Some contemporaneous documentation of the minister’s approach to land administration appears to mirror how he has presented himself to the Nigerian public, a situation that has continued to alarm officials.

“He rules this place like someone who does not believe in accountability,” an official said under anonymity to comment on the minister’s behaviour. “He  just doesn’t see himself being asked to render accounts someday.”

Aides said Mr Wike would regularly boast about how he contributed significantly to getting Mr Tinubu elected, a contribution the president would need again in 2027.

“He keeps reminding us of how he made heavy investment to help the president in 2023,” an official said. “He even said the president can’t do anything to him, and no judge in 2025 Nigeria would dare convict him of any stupid corruption.”

Despite being longstanding political rivals, Mr Wike endorsed Mr Tinubu’s presidential bid and reportedly engineered the manipulation of the presidential poll results in Rivers, undercounting votes for Peter Obi of the Labour Party while using fictitious ballots to inflate Mr Tinubu’s tally. The minister denied rigging the results.

However, he also denied allocating land to his children, employing subterfuge to sidestep the evidence published by The Gazette. Mr Wike has continued to mischaracterise The Gazette’s findings, falsely claiming the digital outlet said he gave 3,822 hectares to his children in Maitama and Asokoro, rather than across several suburbs of the nation’s capital, as the paper actually reported.

Our investigations into how Joaquin Wike and Jordan Wike, the minister’s only two sons, received 3,822 hectares worth $6.45 between them were published nearby on June 27 and July 1, respectively.

Officials said Mr Wike was initially disturbed following The Gazette’s story, but after he saw how easy it was to manipulate media outlets, especially those he could control, he decided to take an even more brazen turn in his corruption, aides said.

“The minister just chuckled when we asked if he didn’t see anything wrong with his family members suddenly acquiring lands all over Abuja,” an aide said. “Do they all just happen to be able to afford assets in expensive neighbourhoods after he became minister?”

‘Harder than appears’

Mr Wike’s propensity for operating on the edges of acceptable norms, unmoored from constitutional guardrails, has continued to upset other senior administration officials, two of whom told The Gazette. However, they admitted that the situation was unique and harder to resolve than it appeared to everyday Nigerians.

“We know Nigerians are looking at this and they’re asking why the president cannot just sack a minister brutally undermining his government,” an official said. “But it is a complicated situation for those of us in the Villa.”

Mr Tinubu has struggled to gain public confidence because of the poor economy and insecurity, with a recent poll finding his approval rating among Nigerians in the 30s. The president would need to shore up his support to stand a good chance in 2027.

Aides said the president’s ability to improve his popularity before the elections might be frustrated by the emergence of the new African Democratic Congress coalition that emerged earlier this month. To fight the coalition with money and political vigour, a ruthless and deep-pocketed politician like Mr Wike would come in handy, aides said.

“The president did not ask Wike to make so much money from public lands as we’re witnessing now,” a second official said under anonymity over the weekend. “But some of that money can end up being invaluable to the success of our campaign for a second term.”

“The president is torn between sacking the minister now to see if that would improve his public perception going into the election, which is not guaranteed, or keeping him for his financial contribution and the capacity to mobilise during the election,” the official added.

The official stated that a panel constituted to investigate Mr Wike has yet to summon the minister, three weeks after it was first disclosed to The Gazette.

Mr Tinubu’s decision to keep Mr Wike in office could implicate the president in the minister’s corruption, which directly violates the Nigerian Constitution.

The Nigerian Constitution, Fifth Schedule, Part I, specifically criminalises Mr Wike’s conduct, which involves using his office to enrich himself and his family members, and prescribes removal and prosecution among the punishments.

Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga asked The Gazette to direct questions about Mr Wike’s conduct to the minister’s media aides. A spokesman for Mr Wike declined to comment for this story, but the minister has maintained no wrongdoing following previous revelations, falsely asserting that granting lands to his family members did not violate Nigerian laws.

While unable to take active measures, anti-corruption agencies EFCC and ICPC have continued to monitor the minister’s activity for now, The Gazette was told. Although the agencies are accorded noteworthy deference under the law, they’re part of the executive branch and, therefore, require the president’s approval to investigate, much less charge, a cabinet official.

The agencies’ spokespersons declined to comment.

Anti-corruption campaigners from the Human and Environmental Development Agenda have filed petitions with the ICPC to investigate Mr Wike’s acquisition of lands across the nation’s capital, describing it as “reckless abuse of office and primitive diversion and accumulation of public assets.”

(Peoples Gazette)