Wike illegal land allocation scandal deepens as FCDA staffer Mairiga Hassan Shaharu is unlawfully detained over leaked documents implicating the minister

Last Friday, Mairiga Hassan Shaharu, a staff member at the Federal Capital Development Administration (FCDA), was unlawfully detained at the FCDA Police Post on the orders of Nyesom Wike’s Chief Security Officer (CSO).

Also read: Wike denies allocating land to son amid controversy

He was accused of leaking documents showing that the FCT Minister had illegally allocated large portions of Abuja land to his two underage sons, a scandal first reported by Peoples Gazette.

But the truth is that Mairiga doesn’t even have access to the Land Department’s internal systems. He works in the department that handles new land applications, not approvals or allocations.

I visited the police post tonight with two human rights lawyers, Rosemary HamzaHamza and Ak Musa. We were later joined by a third lawyer who had tried unsuccessfully to secure Mairiga’s release earlier.

According to him, Wike’s CSO used a forged court order to detain Mairiga. The IPO on the case refused to show the order.

When the lawyer managed to glance at it, he discovered the order came from a magistrate who no longer presides in the jurisdiction, a clear evidence of forgery and abuse of office.

After some three hours of confrontation by telephone, Wike’s CSO claimed they couldn’t locate the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), it was a ruse.

Meanwhile, the senior female officer in charge of the police post returned from Karu, summoned to calm things down, she immediately said she lacked the power to release Mairiga, because he was Wike’s personal detainee.

Eventually, the CSO called back and claimed Wike had changed his mind. He said the matter was now “beyond” him as it was now in the hands of the FCT Police Commissioner, CP Wale Ajao, the same Commissioner of the Nigeria Police Force who recently helped imprison a TikToker on behalf of Senator Prince Ned Nwoko and his youngest wife, Regina Daniels.

I called CP Ajao directly, but he pretended the detention was based on a valid court order—unaware that we had already confirmed the order was fake. He repeated the same tactic, “Go to court.”

Then came the most brazen move, Wike’s CSO called again and said Wike himself wants to see me at his office tomorrow morning alongside the detained worker.

I asked him if he even knew who he was speaking to. I told him flatly, Wike couldn’t have summoned me, he knew better not to make such a mistake and I will not be visiting his office.

Before ending the call, I asked the CSO, If Wike never allocated land to his children, why is someone being detained for leaking documents that supposedly don’t exist?