‘Innocent’ civil servant arrested for allegedly leaking Wike’s $6.45bn land scandal

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In the midst of a massive manhunt to find the source of Peoples Gazette’s recent investigative reports exposing alleged illegal land allocations by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, Nigeria Police officers have arrested Mairiga Hassan Shaharu, a civil servant employed by the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS).

Rights organizations and relatives of the arrested official, who was allegedly taken away without a warrant, are outraged by the detention, which happened Tuesday afternoon.

Shaharu’s whereabouts were still unclear as of Wednesday morning, which sparked concerns that he might be being tortured while in police custody.

It is thought that Shaharu, an employee of AGIS’s Fresh Applications Unit, was not directly involved with or have access to the private documents mentioned in The Gazette’s exposé.

In an attempt to control the impact from the damaging findings, the minister has started to target lower-level bureaucrats, according to his colleagues, who spoke anonymously.

According to official documents released by the Peoples Gazette on June 26 and July 1, Mr. Wike gave his two sons, Jordan and Joaquin, ages 25 and 23, respectively, about 3,822 hectares of prime Abuja land, which might be worth $6.45 billion.

Widespread censure and close examination of the minister’s actions were prompted by the discoveries.

“This is a clear case of scapegoating. Mr Wike is embarrassed and is now arresting innocent people in a desperate attempt to find the source of the leak. Shaharu’s job is to process fresh land applications, not to handle confidential ministerial records,” a senior AGIS staffer told The Gazette.

According to a source close to the minister, Mr. Wike has reportedly grown more unpredictable in the days after the reports were released, drinking excessively and having angry outbursts with employees and even family members.

“He’s confused and moving fast, which is why he keeps making mistakes. He’s been drinking more heavily and shouting at everybody, including his wife,” the source said.

The minister’s wife, Mrs. Eberechi Suzette Nyesom-Wike, is currently a Justice of the Court of Appeal.

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