The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on Friday ordered demolition of illegal buildings developed on diplomatic land in Abuja, and also arrested the developer.

It was learnt that one developer, Alhaji Kabiru Sahara, illegally took over a vast expanse of land allocated in 2008 to some diplomatic missions, including Thailand, Bulgaria, Syria, Somalia, Serbia and Montenegro, Japan, Austria, Switzerland, Senegal and the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

A section of the land was also said to have been reserved for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria for a 132/133KV power station. Wike, who disclosed that all the illegal buildings would be demolished and the land restored to the original allottees, said that the arrested developer would be prosecuted.

“This land was allocated to various embassies in 2008,” the minister said. “Somebody just came here, took the land and started developing it on his own without approval from the FCDA.

“We cannot allow this kind of land invasion to continue. “I have told them to bring down every building standing on this land,” he said, adding that the affected embassies would be formally notified to take possession of their plots. The minister also disclosed that the suspected developer had been arrested and would soon face prosecution.

“The man has been arrested and he will be charged to court. “The police are carrying out their investigation and he will be charged any moment from now,” he said.

Earlier, Wike inspected several road and infrastructure projects across Abuja, including road works linking Wuse to the Central Area, a route near the Body of Benchers complex, and the Tungan-Madaki Road off the airport corridor.

He said many of the projects would be completed in time for inauguration during the third anniversary of President Bola Tinubu in office.