Gazette Accuses Wike Of Allocating 1,740 Hectares Of Land To Other Son, Jordan -

Jordan Wike, the 25-year-old first child of the FCT minister, received prioritised and fraudulent land allotments across the Nigerian capital from his father, Peoples Gazette can report, in what senior civil servants are characterising as one of the most audacious acts of self-dealing in public service witnessed in decades.

Documents reviewed by The Gazette showed Mr Wike, who recently completed his master’s degree in law at a UK college, as the beneficiary of at least 1,740 hectares of land worth $2.85 billion allocated over the past year, including pricey lands his minister father Nyesom Wike abruptly confiscated from original owners under his arcane pretext of non-compliance with land use regulations.

Jordan Wike’s illicit land acquisitions are part of his father’s expansive land-grabbing scheme that The Gazette recently uncovered. The first story from a trove of approval records our reporters obtained from the minister’s office was published nearby last week, detailing how Jordan’s younger brother, 23-year-old Joaquin Wike, was awarded at least 2,082 hectares worth $3.6 billion between October 2024 and May 2025.

Between his two sons, Mr Wike has now allocated no less than 3,822 hectares across the FCT, potentially worth $6.45 billion, according to town planning officials who ran the estimates for The Gazette. The officials used the prevailing values of the grants at their respective locations without tacking on the mandatory premium for possession of certificates of occupancy for all the assets. With certificates of occupancy factored in, the lands would be worth significantly more, the officials said.

Despite the evidence, Mr Wike denied stealing land for his children, saying through a spokesman that it was only coincidental that Jordan and Joaquin Wike were on the asset documents.

Beyond expectation
Before he was appointed minister of the Federal Capital Territory, a cabinet position widely coveted for its control over what is arguably Africa’s most lucrative real estate market, Mr Wike was notorious nationwide for violence, graft and extensive abuse of alcohol. But his decision to transfer large swathes of Abuja to his children, and the pace at which he implemented it, stunned officials who thought they had hitherto seen it all with previous ministers.

“We understand stealing Rivers’ money as governor because the state has oil wealth to squander,” a senior municipal official told The Gazette on Monday night. “But nothing prepared us for what he is doing in Abuja, which is the centre of Nigeria, both geographically and in terms of government activities.”

The officials stated that successive FCT ministers had sought to grant lands to their family members, and some of them, especially Bala Mohammed and Nasir El-Rufai, were later charged by federal authorities. Still, no comparison can be immediately drawn to Mr Wike’s racket, they said.

“It’s almost as if President Tinubu appointed Nyesom Wike to steal lands,” one of the officials said. “He just came in and started stealing for himself and other politicians, all while deliberately refusing to pay workers.”

Thousands of FCT employees are on strike this week, with union leadership organising a protest on Monday that reportedly shut the minister out of his office.

The Gazette reported last week that Mr Wike was so brash in his primitive land claims that when aides told him he needed to exercise caution, he dismissed their warnings, saying he wanted his children to be the largest landowners in the nation’s capital.

In facilitating the dubious assets for Jordan, the minister employed a manoeuvre essentially similar to how he handled land approvals for his second son, Joaquin, documents showed.

Like Joaquin, whose business, Joaq Farms and Estates Ltd, received 350 hectares a week following registration, Jordan’s business, Jordan Farms and Estates Ltd, was allocated 12 hectares in Maitama about six weeks after registration. Both companies were registered on October 10, 2024, using the same address at 13, Thaba Tseka Street, Wuse II. The address has long been associated with Mr Wike and his numerous fronts in the Nigerian capital, The Gazette previously reported.

Similarly, Mr Wike issued occupancy documents to Jordan Farms and Estates for 10 hectares in Guzape on February 25, 2025, the same day he signed at least six of the same set of documents to Joaq Farms and Estates across the Nigerian capital.

Some allocations to Jordan Farms and Estates include 158 hectares in Sheretti Cheche and 1.6 hectares in the Central Area.

Our findings showed that Jordan Wike was also the beneficiary of at least a piece of land in the Central Area, which his father confiscated from the Austrian mission in Nigeria. He received it under another company name.

The land, about two acres, was first surveyed by the FCT town planning office for the Austrian Embassy in January 2014. However, in November 2024, Mr Wike reclaimed it under his catch-all assertion that the property did not comply with regulations.

According to records, on November 19, a new certificate of occupancy issued by Mr Wike for the repossessed Austrian Embassy land was picked up by his chief of detail, James Moses, following fresh mapping certification by Abuja Geographic Information Systems on November 12. Mr Wike personally signed the certificate of occupancy, with file number 155881, on October 13, 2024, to Hyper Communications Ltd.

Nyesom Wike’s chief of detail, Moses James, picked up the survey document for the land confiscated from Austrian Embassy on behalf of the minister

The Gazette’s investigation revealed that Hyper Communications Ltd and Hyper Station Ltd are among dozens of shell businesses Mr Wike uses to acquire assets for himself and his family.

Hence, Hyper Communications’ address was also listed on the CofO as 13, Thaba Tseka Street, Wuse II, matching listings by Jordan and Joaquin businesses.

Hyper Station, registered February 16, 2024, was allocated 11 hectares in Maitama, 54 hectares in Gosa, 19 hectares in Wumba, eight hectares in Bwari, and one hectare in Guzape, among other assets.

Although Mr Wike acquired the lands for his children at no cost, he also either waived or significantly reduced land duties on the assets, documents showed.

In one instance, the minister reduced a bill of N807 million prepared for the certificate of occupancy on the 158 hectares in Sheretti Cheche to just N100 million.

Even then, Mr Wike still failed to pay the N100 million. He eventually paid a paltry N10 million for the land, officials said. This came as the minister was confiscating assets all over the city, accusing the owners of being behind on land duties.

The Gazette also reviewed WhatsApp messages in which Mr Wike, using a phone number ending in 6489, was discussing Jordan as the owner of Hyper Communications and Hyper Station land allocations with an associate.

The Gazette also found Abuja-issued driver’s licences belonging to Jordan and Joaquin Wike among records maintained by the minister for the acquired lands.

Altogether, The Gazette’s assessment of collection records shows that Mr Wike issued certificates of occupancy covering at least 1,740 hectares to Jordan Farms and Estates and its associated entities.

Personalised projects
To maximise illicit wealth for his family through his looting of public lands, Mr Wike has been prioritising developmental projects in some of the communities he targeted for his children. While Maitama, Asokoro, Guzape, and Garki have prohibitive land prices due to their urban features, other areas, such as Sherati Cheche and Bwari, are less developed, despite their land values having soared in recent years.

For instance, Mr Wike recently constructed a road through the 350 hectares of land he allocated to Joaquin in Igu, Bwari, thereby attracting human activities to the area, and consequently increasing the asset value.

A newly-constructed road passes through the 350 hectares Nyesom Wike recently acquired for one of his sons in Igu, Bwari, Abuja.

“People are praising him for doing construction work across the city, but not many know he has been looking out only for himself,” an aide to the minister said. “He’s simply setting up his family to make billions of dollars when those properties are resold in a few years.”

The official said future ministers may copy Mr Wike’s behaviour unless the president acts now or withholds intervention should anti-graft agencies decide to step in.

“The president can sack him, or he can decide not to intervene if the EFCC or ICPC decides to look into this matter,” the official said. “Allowing one person to get away with this level of corruption can only further damage our country’s standing.”

No true laws
A spokesperson for Mr Wike said it was only a coincidence that the minister has been rapidly approving lands to entities bearing the names of his only two sons and registered on the same day to the same address the minister has long used.

“Land was duly allocated to Jordan Farms and Estate Limited, a company duly registered in Nigeria, with none of the children of the FCT as a director of the company,” Lere Olayinka said. “That one of the sons of the FCT Minister is Jordan, and there is a company, Jordan Farms and Estates Limited, is no reason anyone should conclude that the company belongs to Wike’s son.”

“Records of ownership of the company are available at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and we challenge purveyors of these stories to publish the names of the company owners,” Mr Olayinka added, sidestepping evidence of Mr Wike saying the assets belonged to his sons. The person who registered the company for Mr Wike’s sons, Sandy Onor, is a current aide to the minister.

The spokesman also excused the evidence of his principal’s chief detail picking up land documents on behalf of the minister.

“On the document showing the names and signature of one of the minister’s security aides, the question to be asked is simple: Who owns the company, Hyper Communications Limited? If I choose to assist my friend, associate or relative in collecting property documents, does that confer ownership of the property on me?”

Nonetheless, the spokesman emphasised the rights of his principal’s family and associates to acquire lands nationwide.

“It is the right of children of the minister, his friends, associates and relatives to own lands anywhere in the country, including the FCT,” he added.

Mr Olayinka tailored his comment along the lines of last week, when he insisted that Joaquin Wike’s Joaq Farms and Estates Ltd was only incidental to the land acquisitions.

It was unclear what Mr Tinubu knew about Mr Wike’s plunder, or how much he might be willing to go to rein in those excesses. Mr Wike was widely seen as instrumental in the president’s victory in 2023, especially in Rivers, where he used his position as incumbent governor to damage his party’s (PDP) chances.

Nonetheless, the president ordered a probe hours after The Gazette’s story on June 26, even though the administration subsequently rebuffed calls to disclose specific details of the investigation.

The presidency declined to comment on this story. Anti-graft agencies EFCC and ICPC didn’t return questions about whether or not they might be investigating the minister.

However, anti-corruption officials said they were monitoring The Gazette’s reporting, even if they might not be able to act promptly for obvious reasons.

“We’re monitoring the situation, even though we can’t do anything at this time,” an anti-graft source told The Gazette under anonymity to comment on agency methods without authorisation. “Your newspaper has pointed our agents to where they should look, only that, like those before him, he would have to be out of office before any major steps could be taken on the matter.”