The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, recently revoked the certificate of occupancy (C of O) of some plots of land allocated to Julius Berger in the Katampe District of Abuja.

He made this known while speaking to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, at the official flag-off ceremony of the design and construction of 40 judges’ quarters.

Wike revealed that despite having dinner with the managing director of Julius Berger, he decided to revoke the lands.

“My Lord, let me bring to your notice. You have seen this land here. When we were looking for where to get land to build. I was driving around looking for empty land and I got here and saw this empty land,” he began.

I saw the big post: ‘Julius Berger’. I didn’t talk. I called the director of lands (and asked him): Who owns that land? And he said, Julius Berger. When was it allocated? He said about 15, 20 years ago. 15, 20 years ago? Nothing has been done? I didn’t bother.

So, I invited the MD (Managing Director of) Julius Berger. He came and we had dinner. I didn’t talk about the land. The next day, he was in the office and he saw the revocation letter as a matter of public interest.

He called me and said, but I had dinner with you. I said yes; we had dinner but we didn’t discuss the land.

How will the government allocate land for more than 20 years for organisations to develop and they did not develop it? Thank God they did not develop it and now we can have it.”

According to the former Rivers Governor, those lands will be used to build houses for judges, emphasizing that the judiciary plays a critical role in government and should not be subjected to the embarrassment of unpaid rents.

He said, “As Chief of Staff, I was called around midnight by a federal judge because his landlord had locked them out.

The landlord was owed for 5 years, and we couldn’t reach him till 2 am.

What an embarrassment to a judge! Judges shouldn’t be exposed to dangers like that. We thank God for the opportunity to serve and do this.

The Federal Government believes in the autonomy of the judiciary, but as we speak, Federal High Court judges are owing house rents in their official quarters for years now. So, who would pay?”

In response to Wike’s remarks, journalist Rufai Oseni questioned the decision of the FCT Minister to build houses for judges.

On his X page, he wrote, “Why will the FCT minister build houses for judges in Abuja?”