Human rights lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, has slammed the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, asking him to “stop grabbing people’s land” and giving them to his cronies.
Adeyanju and Wike had engaged in a war of words following the demolition of a community by the FCT Joint Task Force and subsequently rendering of thousands of Abuja residents homeless.
Adeyanju stated this on Friday during a press conference in Abuja, while replying to the comment of the minister who had earlier called him “a jobless man” for leading a protest against the demolition in the community.
But Adeyanju, who knocked the Minister, said his only crime was challenging Wike over his untoward action, describing the minister as someone who hated constructive criticism.
The human rights lawyer vowed not to stop criticising the minister whenever the minister does what is not right and legal; he said the minister is attracting criticisms for “some of his bad policies, his anti-people policy in the FCT and issues around land grabbing of poor people’s homes and giving them to his friends, which he admitted in his reply.
“He has not faulted us on the allegations we raised. Rather he has said yes, that he is giving the land that he is grabbing from poor people to his friends, but that, should he give the land to his enemies?
“These are the kinds of people that are ruling in our country, people that should be in jail for corruption, for stealing, for electoral fraud. They are the ones who want to give lectures on morality.”
He admitted that he went to solicit support from Wike then as governor of oil-rich Rivers State just like he sought the support of other governors, stakeholders, and party top shots dismissing Wike as not being more important than the others.
Adeyanju said, “He allegedly said that I came to him, I begged him to be national public secretary of PDP.
“Everyone knows I resigned from politics eight years ago. And that event that he’s talking about happened before I resigned from politics. Since my decision on politics, I have been jailed, I have been harassed, I have been beaten on the street.”
While revealing that “We have maintained communications with him,” the activist further said, “Many times when I criticised him, he called me and said he did not want friendship with me again. He does not like to be criticised.”
