Businessman Safwan Garba has demanded that the judge handling his fraud lawsuit against the Wikes recuse himself. Specifically, his lawyer, Ibrahim Waru, has asked Sylvanus Oriji, the judge presiding over the $2.1 million fraud case involving Jordan, the son of FCT minister Nyesom Wike, to recuse himself over alleged family ties.
The younger Wike was accused of defrauding Mr Garba of $21.1 million in a deal to purchase hectares of land in Abuja’s Katampe and Guzape district.
He said the court set three dates for another sitting to continue the fraud trial against the minister’s son.
“However, after the last attendance, I, as counsel representing the claimant, did write a letter addressed to the chief judge of the FCT High Court that I don’t want my lord, the presiding judge, to continue hearing this matter. I wanted the case to be transferred to another court,” he said.
According to him, the request was based on alleged family and community ties between the defendant and the presiding judge.
“The reason why we presented this request is because we were made to understand that there is a kind of family ties, community ties, community relation and family relationship between the defendant and the judge. That is why we applied for transfer for my lord to recuse himself so that the matter will be reassigned to another judge for trial,” he said.
According to court documents, Mr Garba alleged that he was forced to deliver $2.1 million in cash at a house located in Gwarinpa, FCT, in 2025.
The businessman alleged that he first met the FCT minister’s son in London and met again in Abuja three months later, when they agreed he would help facilitate the acquisition of 30 hectares of land at Katampe and another 30 hectares at Guzape for $2.1 million.
The court heard how Mr Garba said the younger Mr Wike informed the businessman that $2 million of the payment belonged to the FCT minister, while the son’s share of the transaction was merely $100,000. It was alleged that the payment was made in cash on September 26, 2025.
According to Mr Garba, three people, Adamu Sani, Aliyu Sarki, and Sai Wani, were present when the cash was delivered. The court document showed that a companion of the minister’s son, Onor Sandy, witnessed the alleged transaction.
The businessman alleged that after the payment, the FCT minister’s son was out of reach, and he later discovered that the plots of land sold to him belonged to another person. Mr Garba told the court that he made efforts to seek a refund in October 2025 without success, prompting him to involve the minister.
The businessman met with the FCT minister in December, but the former Rivers governor was uncooperative and even threatened to arrest him, according to court filings.
The two areas—Katampe and Guzape—that Mr Garba said he paid the Wikes for are among the properties Peoples Gazette cited in exclusive reports last year exposing how the FCT minister allocated over 3,700 hectares of land in strategic locations in the FCT to his two sons, Jordan and Joaquin.
The Gazette estimated the plots at around $6.4 billion, and analysts said the Wikes were not expected to keep all the looted land but intended to resell the properties at lucrative prices. The younger Mr Wike, a lawyer, told the court that his signature on the document presented was forged. According to him, he has no link whatsoever with the claimants in the case. During cross-examination, he insisted that he was out of the country around the time he was accused of collecting the money.
“I did not receive any money from anybody. I did not sign any document for land deal. I only found out that my signature was on the land document just like anyone else in this court yesterday (Tuesday),” the FCT minister explained. “I never had any friend named Onor Sandy, and I did not have any deal with anyone regarding land deal.”
The case was adjourned until December 1, 2 and 14, 2026 for continuation of the trial. At the last adjourned date, the court ordered him to produce his travel passport. He produced a photocopy of the passport and undertook to produce the original whenever the court needs it.
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