Northern Group Urges Tinubu To Sack Wike, ICPC Secretary

The Northern Political Awareness Organisation on Wednesday demanded the immediate resignation of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over alleged multi-billion-dollar land fraud involving allocations to his sons, Jordan and Joaquin.

The group also called for the removal of the Secretary of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Clifford Oparaodu, accusing him of being a “political ally and cousin” of the minister and alleging a cover-up of the scandal.

Addressing journalists in Kaduna on Wednesday, the group’s spokesperson, Nasiru Ibrahim, decried what he described as the “illegal arrest and detention” of a civil servant with the Abuja Geographic Information System, Mairiga Hassan Shaharu, over the leak of official land documents linked to Wike and his family.

“This is not just an abuse of power but a direct assault on whistleblowers and democratic accountability. An innocent Nigerian, Mairiga Hassan Shaharu, was arrested by police officers and detained for days, simply because the FCT Minister suspects him of leaking documents that allegedly exposed the unlawful allocation of public land to Wike’s children,” Ibrahim said.

He added, “This is unconstitutional, shameful, and a disturbing abuse of office. Rather than address the serious allegations of fraudulent land deals, the Minister has resorted to intimidation and harassment of a junior AGIS staff.”

Documents circulating online revealed that Wike allocated at least 3,822 hectares of Abuja land — with an estimated market value of $6.45 billion — to his sons, Jordan (25) and Joaquin (23).

The documents allegedly originated from the Minister’s office and sparked widespread outrage online and within civil society.

The minister dismissed the allocation and in another interview said his children like every Nigerian were qualified to own land in the FCT.

However, the group said instead of facing the allegations head-on, the Minister moved swiftly to silence perceived sources of the leak.

“Instead of explaining the rationale behind allocating prime Abuja land to his sons, Wike has used state apparatus to witch-hunt a civil servant,” Ibrahim said.

The group also accused the ICPC of complicity through inaction, despite the gravity of the allegations.

According to the group, petitions submitted to the ICPC have been ignored —a situation they claimed was deliberate because the ICPC Secretary, Clifford Oparaodu, has long-standing ties with the Minister.

“The silence of the ICPC is loud and damning. We have credible intelligence that Mr. Clifford Oparaodu, the Executive Secretary of the ICPC, is a cousin of Wike and was handpicked by him for that role. He cannot be trusted to oversee any investigation involving Wike,” Ibrahim said.

The group further alleged that Oparaodu was a long-time ally of Wike during his tenure as Governor of Rivers State, describing him as a “political protégée positioned to shield Wike from scrutiny.”

They presented a detailed profile of Oparaodu, noting that he hails from Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State and has served in several politically affiliated roles in Rivers, including Chairman of the Port Harcourt City Local Government Council and Legal Adviser to the local government.

“From his legal career to his political appointments, Clifford Oparaodu has always been within Wike’s orbit. His appointment as ICPC Secretary in October 2023 was nothing more than a strategic placement meant to cover Wike’s tracks,” Ibrahim alleged.

He continued, “The ICPC cannot claim to be fighting corruption while shielding those accused of it. With over $6 billion in public assets allegedly diverted, this is perhaps the biggest corruption case in our history — the mother and father of all corruption scandals in Nigeria.”

The group issued a five-point demand, chief of which was the immediate release of Mairiga Hassan Shaharu and an independent investigation into the land allocations under Wike’s watch.

They also called for Wike to step aside or be suspended to allow for an impartial probe, and for the ICPC Secretary, Clifford Oparaodu, to be removed from office.

“The fight against corruption in Nigeria cannot be a joke. Nigerians are watching. The world is watching. If we do not act now, the credibility of our anti-corruption agencies will be permanently damaged,” Ibrahim said.

They urged President Bola Tinubu to act swiftly to restore public confidence in governance and the integrity of Nigeria’s anti-corruption war.

Ibrahim added: “Wike must go. Oparaodu must go. We must not allow a country where whistleblowers are arrested while those looting public resources walk free.”

Both the FCT and ICPC could not be reached for comments.

Northern Group Urges Tinubu To Sack Wike, ICPC Secretary is first published on The Whistler Newspaper