The Senior Special Assistant on Media to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, Mr. Lere Olayinka, has faulted human rights lawyer and activist Deji Adeyanju over comments linking the minister to Saturday’s flooding in parts of Abuja.
In a statement issued today Monday, Olayinka described Adeyanju and his supporters as a “Gang Of Flooded Brains” who were “always looking for attention” and quick to blame Wike for every incident in the capital.
“There was a heavy downpour in Abuja on Saturday, and consequently, some areas got heavily flooded. The flood remained for a while after the rainfall and disappeared,” Olayinka said.
He added that while the FCT Administration “is mindful of this development and is taking steps to forestall future occurrence,” it was “funny” that Adeyanju had been saying “WIKE HAS DESTROYED ABUJA since yesterday, as if last Saturday was the first time some areas in Abuja got flooded.”
Olayinka argued that flooding in Abuja predates the current administration. He cited media reports of floods in 2019 that affected sections of Wuse, Jabi and Lokogoma, and another incident in 2022 that impacted Lokogoma district, Efab Estate, Gudu axis and connecting bridges.
“When there was a flood in Abuja in 2019, as reported in the media, was it Wike that caused it?” he asked.
According to him, the flood witnessed last Saturday “was another reminder of the seasonal reality of a rapidly expanding city with drainage infrastructure, waste management and enforcement of planning rules not keeping pace with growth.”
He also blamed scavengers for worsening the situation, saying they are “daily stealing drainage covers, thereby exposing the drainage to refuse.”
Olayinka said the FCT Administration is already reviewing the 1979 Abuja Master Plan “to accommodate the new realities of the capital city.”
He added that the administration is now installing drainage covers “that will be impossible for scavengers to remove.”
The media aide further took a swipe at Adeyanju’s legal practice, recalling that “this same Deji Adeyanju, was the one who climbed the rooftop to defend someone who built a School and Church on a land granted to her for recreation purpose.”
“He saw nothing wrong in collecting money to defend someone who contravened land use purpose,” Olayinka said, before asking: “But can an Online Baseless Lawyer, who studied LATE NIGHT LAW understand this? I don’t think so.”
The FCT has experienced seasonal flooding in recent years, with urban expansion and blocked drains often cited as contributing factors.
