SERAP WARNS, AS 2-WEEK GRACE FOR ABUJA GROUND RENT DEFAULTERS ENDS

The two-week grace period for ground rent defaulters in the Federal Capital Territory has ended and about thirty-four embassies in Abuja are at risk of being sealed up. The FCTA Director of Land, CHIJIOKE NWANKWOEZE, says the defaulters will pay penalty fees of two million naira and three million naira, depending on the locations of their property. However, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has called on President BOLA TINUBU to further intervene in the matter and stop the threat against foreign embassies in Abuja. SERAP made the call in a post on its social media handle, in which it warned that the purported threat by the FCT Minister, NYESOM WIKE, to seal the embassies would violate international law and diplomatic conventions. The group cited Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which protects diplomatic missions from being subjected to search, requisition, attachment, or execution.