Wike spoke on Tuesday against the backdrop of recent flooding in parts of the Federal Capital Territory.
He said the demolition exercise would begin immediately and would not spare influential Nigerians, including serving lawmakers whose properties were found to have been built on water channels.
“I am going to bring those houses down. Any house that is found on the channel—water channel will go down,” he said.
The minister directed officials of the FCT Development Control Department to act swiftly, warning against delaying the demolition exercise.
“From today to Saturday, if the development control delay, let them find any excuse to run away. They cannot,” he said.
Wike said some of the affected property owners were senators and other influential Nigerians.
“Some of them are senators. Some of them are big men,” he said.
He also said he was prepared to face any political backlash that might follow the exercise, particularly as the country approaches another election season.
“Whether there’s election oh, there’s no election oh, all those houses will go down,” Wike said.
The minister rejected claims that the demolition of structures built on waterways amounted to political victimisation.
He argued that many of the affected buildings had existed for years and were owned by wealthy Nigerians.
“Those houses are not houses that were built in last week. Those houses have been there 10 years ago, eighty years ago,” he said.
Wike blamed both natural and human factors for the flooding, including climate change, blocked waterways, construction on inappropriate locations, inadequate drainage maintenance and indiscriminate dumping of refuse.
“We are in a climate change era. The kind of rains we have experienced, or we are experiencing now, we have not experienced before. But that is not that there are no man-made factors,” he said.
He also warned against the conversion of green areas into parks, describing it as another form of land-use abuse.
Wike said his administration had issued 26,000 Certificates of Occupancy over the past three years, compared with 7,000 issued by two previous administrations over 13 years.
He accused critics of using the flooding situation to score political points.
“I appreciate those Nigerians who meant well by calling us to say, ‘Look, you may not have seen this. See what has happened.’ Not those who will just, after putting the video, ‘Oh, circulate this! Wike has killed Abuja!’” he said.
Wike maintained that he would not be deterred by criticism over the demolition exercise.
“I never created any flood. So, I hope now that we have started to demolish, you won’t cry to say, ‘Oh, it’s against a political opponent.’ No,” he said.
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