A member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Board of Trustees, Bode George, has criticized the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, over the sealing of the party’s national secretariat due to unpaid ground rent.
George expressed dismay on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, that Wike, as a member of the PDP, allowed the FCTA to seal the party’s headquarters, also known as Wadata Plaza, in Abuja.
Truth Live News reports that the PDP secretariat was sealed on Monday during the enforcement of the revocation of 4,794 properties for non-payment of ground rent, which ranged from 10 to 43 years.
“We were told we had not paid N7 million and so, we defaulted on the ground rent. The painful part of it is that the minister is also a member of our party,” George said.
“Talking as an African, culturally, let us look at it as his father’s house where he grew up, where he went to school and became a public personality. What do you do to pay back that family?” he added.
“What is N7 million? He should have just said to them, ‘Okay, N7 million, I’ll pay from my pocket. Take the receipt back to the party’s secretariat. You see, you people are foolish,” George stated.
“‘I’m completely committed to this house; I am completely loyal to this house. I will not decimate it.
“This is the receipt, give me back my money.’ That is what you call a true son of that family,” he said.
According to George, Wike was a major beneficiary of the PDP, having been allowed to serve in various political positions, and therefore should have demonstrated that he was a true party man.
The elder statesman noted that the PDP was not the only party owing ground rent, as the ruling All Progressives Congress was also indebted, adding that the PDP made a mistake by failing to meet its financial obligation.