A staff member of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Mairiga Hassan Shaharu, was unlawfully detained last Friday at the FCDA Police Post, reportedly on the orders of the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Sources allege that Shaharu was accused of leaking sensitive documents which appear to show that Minister Wike illegally allocated vast tracts of Abuja land to his two underage sons. The purported documents, which first came to public attention through a Peoples Gazette report, have sparked outrage online and drawn renewed scrutiny to land governance in the FCT.
However, documents and testimonies reviewed by this newspaper suggest that the allegations against the detained FCDA employee are baseless. Mr. Shaharu works in the section that receives new land applications and does not have access to land approval or allocation files—raising serious doubts about his ability to leak any such internal records.
In an effort to secure his release, a team of human rights lawyers visited the FCDA Police Post on Friday night. The team, comprising Rosemary HamzaHamza, Ak Musa, and a third lawyer who had earlier intervened, discovered that Shaharu’s detention was secured using a forged court order.
“The IPO refused to show us the order,” one of the lawyers said. “But when we briefly sighted it, we discovered it was allegedly signed by a magistrate who no longer presides in that jurisdiction. It was clear forgery.”
Despite repeated appeals, police officers at the post declined to release the detainee. A senior female officer, who had returned from Karu to calm tensions at the station, reportedly stated that Shaharu was being held as “Wike’s personal detainee” and that she lacked the authority to release him.
After several hours of back-and-forth, the CSO reportedly informed the lawyers that the matter had escalated and was now in the hands of FCT Police Commissioner, CP Wale Ajao. CP Ajao is the same officer who has come under fire for the controversial arrest and detention of a TikTok user allegedly acting on behalf of Senator Ned Nwoko and his wife, Regina Daniels.
When reached for comment, CP Ajao allegedly maintained that Shaharu’s detention was based on a valid court order—despite mounting evidence that the said order was forged. “Go to court,” he reportedly told the legal team.
In a new twist, the CSO later contacted one of the lawyers and claimed that the Minister himself wished to see both the detained staff member and the intervening lawyer in his office the next morning. The lawyer, however, declined the invitation, saying: “If Wike never allocated land to his children, why is someone being detained over documents that supposedly don’t exist?”
Legal experts and civil rights advocates have condemned the detention as a flagrant abuse of power and called for an independent investigation into the alleged allocation of public lands to the Minister’s children. “This is a textbook case of whistleblower persecution,” one senior lawyer said. “The real question now is not about the detainee, but the growing allegations of corrupt land dealings involving a sitting Minister.”
As of press time, Shaharu remains in detention.
A story of courage, wonder, and the transformative power of self-belief; perfect for readers aged 10+ who love adventure. To place order: +234 806 130 3237 | +234 803 582 0870 OR Tap the link to grab a copy:https://www.zeekapublish.com/product/the-magical-life-of-anna
