By Adesina Soyooye
“Minister Wike’s behaviour diminishes the office of a Minister and the authority of the Republic”
A former Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka, has chided Nyesom Wike, Minister for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, for verbally insulting an Army Officer.
Wike had, on Tuesday, verbally engaged the officer for denying him access to a building project.
“Shut up”, Wike hauled at the Officer, to which he responded: “I will not shut up.” But Wike continued: “You are a very big fool. As at the time I graduated, you were still in Primary School.”
But the officer responded: “I am not a fool Sir. I am not a fool Sir. I am not a fool Sir. I am acting on orders. I am acting on orders. I am acting on orders.”
Trouble started when soldiers, on Tuesday, November 11, blocked the Minister and his officials from accessing a building project, allegedly, over government approval issues.
When Wike insisted on having access, the officer told him that he was acting on orders of his superior, now identified as a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo
But Wike told the officer: “Get out, you must vacate the land”, the officer calmly replied: “I have integrity”, and stood his ground.
During the heated argument, Wike told the officer: “You cannot tell me that. We cannot continue to act in this impunity. Where is the approval given to you people? You cannot continue this way. Even if he (former CNS) has a problem, he cannot reach me and say ‘I am sorry?’ You’ll send soldiers to intimidate who? We’re all from this country. And you cannot be higher than any government. You cannot be intimidating people with guns.”
The argument ended when the Chief of Defence Staff intervened.
Wike: “Let me tell you, if not for the Chief of the Defence Staff who spoke to me, you could have killed everybody here. No problem. I am not one of those that you can intimidate. I am doing my job. Show me the approval that you’ve been approved to do what you’re doing.”
But Chidoka has chastised Wike for verbally abusing the Army Officer. “Abusing a law enforcement officer,” the former Minister said in a statement on Tuesday, November 11, “diminishes the authority of the Republic”
In the statement titled: “Minister Wike: Power, Process, and the Rule of Law” Chidoka said:
“Any law enforcement officer, in uniform or plain clothes, represents the President and the sovereignty of the Nigerian state.
“To abuse such an officer is to diminish the authority of the Republic itself.
“Minister Nyesom Wike’s decision to personally enforce a directive at a disputed site was a fundamental misstep. In constitutional democracies, power operates through institutions not impulse.
“Executive authority must be exercised or adjudicated through the Courts, Ministries, and lawful instruments of State, never through confrontation.
“No matter how justified a grievance, a Minister cannot become an enforcer; that violates the very idea of ordered Government.
“In a democracy, Ministers act through process, not presence.
” A formal communication to the Minister of Defence, whose office oversees the Armed Forces, would have sufficed. If the officers were on illegal duty, the established disciplinary systems would have addressed it.
“When a Minister trades words with a uniformed officer acting under orders — lawful or otherwise — it corrodes discipline and confuses hierarchy.
“The officer’s duty is to obey the chain of command, not verbal instructions on a roadside; the Minister’s duty is to act through lawful channels.
“The Minister should apologise to the officer for using abusive language. It is not acceptable behaviour.
“The conduct of the DSS protective details was equally unprofessional. Their responsibility was to extract their principal from a rancorous and potentially dangerous situation, not to escalate it.
“Security officers must remember that their loyalty is to the state, not to personalities.
“This episode is a cautionary tale: This episode demeans the dignity of the office of the Minister and undermines the image of disciplined governance.”
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