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The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr. Nyesom Wike, has disclosed the suspension of a director of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) for allegedly granting illegal building approvals on waterways in Abuja.

Wike said the action was part of efforts by the FCT Administration to address recurring flooding in the nation’s capital, which he attributed partly to years of illegal construction on waterways and the impact of climate change.

Speaking during a media chat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the minister said structures erected along waterways had obstructed natural drainage channels, worsening the flooding experienced in parts of Abuja during heavy rainfall.

“The floods in Abuja today are a result of people building on waterways in Abuja illegally over the years,” Wike said.

He added that the administration had moved against an official allegedly involved in facilitating illegal developments.

“We suspended a director in the FCDA according to the Civil Service rule who was illegally giving building approvals to build on waterways,” the FCT Minister said.

Wike, however, noted that illegal construction was not the only factor responsible for the flooding, as climate change had also contributed to the recent situation.

“Climate change is also responsible for the flooding being experienced recently in Abuja,” he said.

The minister’s comments come amid growing concerns over flooding in several parts of the Federal Capital Territory following heavy rainfall.

The FCT Administration has, in recent months, intensified efforts to remove illegal structures and developments obstructing waterways and drainage channels as part of measures to reduce the risk of flooding in the capital.

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By Gloria Ikibah

A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Rufus Omeire, has dismissed claims of an existing zoning arrangement in the Ideato Federal Constituency of Imo State, describing the emergence of the incumbent lawmaker, Ikenga Ugochinyere, as a product of the people’s choice.

Omeire, who is the senatorial candidate of the Action Peoples Party (APP), made the assertion in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said the latest agitation over representation in the constituency was aimed at Ugochinyere, who chairs the House Committee on Downstream Petroleum, warning that any attempt to create a crisis based on what he described as an unfounded zoning arrangement will backfire.

According to him, Ugochinyere was not elected on the basis of zoning but through the collective decision of the people of Ideato Federal Constituency.

He described the lawmaker as “the people’s messenger, a product of our people’s decision to elect a messenger they have confidence in, even while he was in exile.”

Omeire said, “We don’t have zoning, and he can’t be a product of what does not exist. His closest challenger, who was the incumbent, was from Ideato South, went even up to the court, and Ikenga defeated him”.

He explained that he had also sought a second term as an indigene of Ideato South, but was not returned, stressing that there was no established zoning arrangement guiding the constituency’s elections.

“Hon. Austin Chukwukere took over from Hon Mbadigwe, both from Ideato North. The people love Ikenga because he is a light and a messenger who will one day host the Ideato flag at the center of national and international politics, and we can’t exchange an exceptional, young, courageous leader with those who have failed at everything they’ve done in their lives.

“We can’t exchange a robust, over-active, capacity young man with any new beginner. Let me also say it here that we are short changing ourselves in this quest to always change our Reps after one tenure. We can never achieve any meaningful development from the federal like this. We have finally gotten it right with Ikenga so he should continue the wonderful work he is doing,” the statement read.

Omeire also highlighted the Ideato Bridge project as one of Ugochinyere’s major interventions, claiming that the lawmaker “single-handedly convinced President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to approve N26 billion for work to start before the state government wrote to the Ministry of Works to allow them to take over.”

He challenged the Imo State Government to identify a single project it had initiated on its own in the federal constituency.

He said, “until they start the Amanator Isiekenesi Dikenafai Road and finish it, nobody can say they have done anything for us.”

The former lawmaker also criticised those opposing Ugochinyere, describing them as “roadside clowns” who were launching a “kindergarten attack against a passionate messenger that his people love.”

He urged them to abandon what he called their “childish and ridiculous attempt to get attention”.

According to him, “This desperate show of shame was only an act to beg for the extension of their tenure, which has already expired.”

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Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike, has argued that being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) does not automatically disqualify a person from participating in political campaigns or canvassing votes.

Wike made the assertion on Wednesday, during a media parley in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while defending the inclusion of individuals facing allegations or investigations in political campaign structures.

His comments followed controversy over the inclusion of former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, in the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign structure for President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.

Edu was listed as Director of Women Mobilisation in the APC Presidential Campaign Council. She was suspended by President Tinubu in January 2024 following allegations of financial impropriety and was subsequently investigated by the EFCC.

Wike questioned the basis for excluding a person from campaigning simply because the individual was being investigated, particularly where no conviction had been established.

“You were asking the moral justification of putting someone who has an EFCC case to be in a campaign council. And I was just watching the lady. The lady doesn’t even know what to say,” Wike said.

He added: “Now, somebody cannot be in a campaign to canvass for votes for a particular person, but somebody who has an EFCC case can contest an election and win an election?”

The minister said there had been instances in which individuals facing criminal allegations or court cases contested elections and emerged victorious.

“This person had an EFCC case in court, charged to court. He contested an election and became a governor,” he said, without identifying the individual.

Wike also took his argument further, saying even a person serving a prison sentence could express political support for a candidate and canvass votes through others.

“Listen. Even a prisoner… maybe they have somebody in prison. I go and visit the person. The person can tell me, ‘My brother, I want you to support so-and-so candidate.’ A prisoner has canvassed for vote,” he said.

The minister also referred to an unnamed individual allegedly linked to a coup plot, questioning the criticism generated when such a person was said to have supported a political candidate.

“I was watching, when Channels, when Sunrise, who came up to say, ‘Ah, how can somebody who’s being looked for as a coup plotter is now canvassing for votes for so-and-so government?’ Somebody EFCC is looking for is now canvassing for votes for so-and-so person,” Wike said.

He maintained that an ongoing investigation should not, by itself, prevent a political party or candidate from accepting an individual’s support during an election campaign.

“But a party, or a candidate cannot, simply because EFCC is investigating the person, cannot be a member of the campaign council to campaign for votes,” he said.

Edu has not been publicly declared guilty of any offence arising from the EFCC investigation.