“FCT Workers Being Used By Opposition To Embarrass Me” – Wike

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The Minister.of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike has accused protesting civil servants of being used to blackmail and embarrass him.

He, however, maintained that he will not be cowed, nor succumb to what he described as cheap blackmail.

Wike spoke against the backdrop of the trending allegation of land grabbing against him and some family members and the ongoing street protest embarked upon by aggrieved workers.

At his monthly media briefing on Thursday June 3, 2025 in Abuja, the FCT  accused some workers of the FCT of being used by some disgruntled opposition figures to tarnish his image and that of his family.

His only offence, he said, is his insistence on doing the right thing. While dismissing the allegation of allotting hundreds of hectares of the FCT land to a company in which his son has an interest, Wike blamed the aggrieved workers of being behind the peddling of such unsubstantiated claims.

Wike alleged that the workers are against him because of his modest achievements and insistence that it will “not be  business as usual” in the administration of the FCT.

“What I will not take is a threat. I will not be intimidated. There are processes. You can just go and carry placards to embarrass me because the opposition is using you .On that note, because of the achievements we have recorded, I will not listen to you.

“They ( workers) are saying that part of the reasons they are protesting is because of lack of promotion. Now, they didn’t get promotion before I came on board, and they didn’t kill anybody.

“Now that I have come, they suddenly realized that they have not been getting promotions. The truth is that our commissioning of projects has become a problem and the reason they are doing what they doing”, Wike stated.

Further speaking, the FCT Minister , alleged that another aspect of the problem is his refusal to allow some workers to be contractors as usual.

According to him, most civil servants in the FCT, before now, had been involved in the cornering of contracts, a practice which he has so far resisted.

“They want to be contractors and civil servants at the same time. That is what has been killing the system.

“So many things were not working before we came . Because we have come to change the system, the workers, especially, the beneficiaries of the old rotten arrangements are fighting back.

“Now you have locked the gates to the offices, and still want to be paid salary. Where should we stay to sign the salary? From where will they collect the salary?

“Shamelessly, they have not asked where I stayed to sign the salary they are collecting”, the FCT Minister fumed.

The Source reports that teachers’ workers from the six FCT council areas, and their health sector counterparts have been on indefinite industrial action for over three months.

Their grievances revolve around the alleged failure of the authorities to implement the N70,000 new minimum wage, as well as payments of outstanding arrears.

The protest and picketing of offices which are being coordinated by the FCT Organized Labour resulted from the refusal of  the authorities to address the workers demands since their strike action began  in March, 2025.