By John Ogunsemore
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has advised President Bola Tinubu to call Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike to order over a purported plan to seal 34 diplomatic missions for failing to pay ground rent in Abuja.
The FCT administration under Wike had published the details of 9,000 debtors in national dailies, directing them to pay their ground rents to avoid the risk of forfeiture of their land.
On May 23, 2025, the FCTA announced that it would take possession of about 5,000 affected properties owing ground rents between 10 and 43 years and began sealing and taking over properties of debtors including the PDP national secretariat.
No fewer than 34 embassies and foreign missions were named among the defaulters.
The FCTA said these diplomatic missions collectively owe N3,662,196 since 2014.
However, President Tinubu intervened and granted the defaulters a 14-day grace period to settle their outstanding payments and penalties.
The grace period expired on Friday, June 6, with many anticipating the FCTA’s next line of action.
In a statement on Tuesday, SERAP said President Tinubu should urgently caution and direct Wike to immediately withdraw the threat to close down 34 embassies in Abuja.
It noted that the purported threat is contrary to the provisions of Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
SERAP said, “Article 22, paragraph 1, of the Vienna Convention states that ‘[t]he premises of the mission shall be inviolable’.
“Article 22, paragraph 3, of the Vienna Convention sets out that ‘[t]he premises of the mission, their furnishings and other property thereon and the means of transport of the mission shall be immune from search, requisition, attachment or execution.’
“Minister Wike had threatened to revoke 4,794 land titles and shut down embassies and other properties that owe ground rents dating as far back as 2014.”
