Following the expiration of the two weeks presidential grace for owners of properties in the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) to pay up their ground rents to avoid seizing of their properties by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Monday, said that the FCTA administration will renew the plots earlier push to seal up properties in Abuja whose owners have yet to pay ground rent.

Wike, who disclosed this during a media parley in Abuja, expressed dismay that, despite the grace period given by President Bola Tinubu, some of the owners have refused to clear their debts.

He said, “Mr. President said two weeks, we are more than three months [since the grace period]. That is Nigeria for you.

“We have just finished a programme. I am going to seal up all those properties; I’m going to seal them up.”

He noted that the government would no longer allow property owners to deny the taxes needed for development.

“You can’t deny us the taxes we use for development. Pay us the taxes that you are supposed to pay, you said, ‘No’.

“We have listened to Mr. President. In his wisdom, he said, ‘Give them two weeks, give them two months.’ We have done that.

“Some have done that. Some have refused to comply.

“If you have not complied, if you have not paid, we are going to seal it up. This is what we cannot continue to allow in this country,” he added.

Officials of the FCTA had sealed properties owned by political parties, government institutions, corporate organisations, and individuals following their nonpayment of ground rents.

Defaulters were later granted a 14-day grace period, following the intervention of President Bola Tinubu, to settle their ground rents, along with associated penalties.