Abuja, Nigeria — The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has approved the cancellation of 485 land titles in Nigeria’s capital after they failed official verification checks.
The decision followed a detailed screening carried out by the Department of Land Administration in partnership with the Abuja Geographic Information Systems. According to officials, many of the submitted documents did not meet required standards of authenticity and several were confirmed to be forged.
In a public notice issued on Monday, February 23, 2026, the Federal Capital Territory Administration announced that the invalid applications had been removed from the regularisation database. The notice, marked Batch I, addressed individuals and organisations that had submitted Area Council land documents for validation.
“This is to inform the general public, particularly applicants who submitted Area Council land documents for regularisation, that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory has approved the nullification or cancellation of applications that failed the necessary official checks for genuineness and have been confirmed to be fake,” the notice read.
The affected properties are located across several Area Councils within the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. In Bwari Area Council, the impacted layouts include Ushafa Village Expansion Scheme, Ushafa Extension and Dawaki Extension 1. Within the Abuja Municipal Area Council, the districts affected include Kurudu Jikwoyi Relocation, Kurudu Commercial, Karu Village Extension, Nyanya Phase IV Extension, Jikwoyi Residential, Sabon Lugbe and Lugbe I Extension. Kuchiyako One layout in Kuje Area Council was also listed.
Among those affected are religious and cooperative bodies, including the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the Ministry of Justice Staff Multi purpose Cooperative Society.
Under Nigerian law, all land within the Federal Capital Territory is vested in the federal government of Nigeria. Certificates of Occupancy and other land titles must be processed through the office of the Federal Capital Territory Minister and formalised by the Abuja Geographic Information Systems.
Okay News reports that the cancellations form part of a wider land administration reform programme aimed at addressing long standing concerns such as forged documents, double allocations and irregular land grants allegedly issued by some Area Councils.
The reform process began last year when the Federal Capital Territory Administration disclosed that only 8,287 out of 261,914 Area Council land documents submitted between 2006 and 2023 had been screened. That figure represents 3.2 percent of total submissions, leaving 253,627 documents still pending review.
Officials acknowledged that progress had been slow, with 96.8 percent of submissions awaiting clearance. Authorities say the ongoing regularisation exercise will continue as part of efforts to restore transparency and credibility to land administration in Nigeria’s capital.
