FCTA takes responsibility for Gaduwa land dispute incident involving Wike, naval officer

By Kunle Sanni –

Officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) have accepted responsibility for the confrontation that occurred on Tuesday at Plot 1946, Gaduwa District, involving the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, and a naval officer, Lt. A. M. Yerima.

The encounter, captured in a viral video, showed naval personnel blocking the minister from accessing a disputed property reportedly linked to former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo (rtd).

Speaking after the FCT Executive Committee meeting, the Director of Development Control, Tpl. Mukhtar Galadima, provided a detailed chronology of the events and apologised formally for involving the minister in the incident.

“It is with a sense of commitment, emotion and regret that we address this press conference on the incident that happened on Tuesday, 11 November 2025, at Gaduwa District,” he said.

Galadima explained that the dispute stemmed from a routine inspection conducted by his department on 17 October, during which officers discovered an active construction site within the Southern Parkway corridor. When they requested approval documents, they were met with threats from naval personnel guarding the site.

He said the situation was immediately reported, and efforts were made to resolve the matter through internal intervention, including contacting a senior naval colleague to appeal to the officers involved.

Further inquiries revealed that the only document provided by the site representatives was a 2007 letter of intent from the Department of Parks and Recreation—far from a valid approval required under the FCT Act of 1976 and the Urban and Regional Planning Law of 1992.

Recounting his engagement with Navy Lt. Yerima and a lawyer representing the developers, Galadima said he repeatedly asked them to produce official approval documents. “As a lawyer, you know the difference between submission and approval,” he told the site’s counsel. “It is illegal to commence development within the FCT without approval.”