DIPLOMATIC STANDOFF: Falana Warns Wike Against Sealing Abuja Embassies Over $5.36m Debt 🚨

 Senior lawyer Femi Falana has cautioned FCT Minister Nyesom Wike against sealing Abuja embassies over unpaid ground rent, warning that such action would breach international law and trigger a diplomatic crisis for Nigeria. Falana made this statement on Channels Television's "Politics Today" program.


Falana argued that embassies are protected from invasion, even for unpaid ground rent, citing Article 22 of the Vienna Convention, which declares embassy premises inviolable. He also questioned whether ground rent even applies to all diplomatic missions.


The FCT Administration, led by Nyesom Wike, identified 9,000 property owners, including 34 embassies, as ground rent defaulters and threatened to take over their lands. The embassies owed a total of $5.36 million, and Wike gave them a two-week deadline to pay or face title revocation. The administration even publicly named the foreign embassies in debt.


After public backlash, President Bola Tinubu stepped in, giving defaulters a 14-day window to settle their debts, which ended on June 9, 2025. Amid this development, Femi Falana advised Nyesom Wike against taking unilateral action that could harm Nigeria's diplomatic ties.

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