By Akinjide Aina, Abuja Bureau Chief

Following the Minister for Federal Capital Territory, FCT and immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike’s messy verbal assault on, and altercation with a young Naval officer, Lt A M Yerima at a disputed construction site in Abuja on Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu, this Magazine can authoritatively reveal, has come under immense pressure from the hawks and doves in his kitchen cabinet, as well as some influential retired Military Generals. As the pressure on him mounts, the President is said to be in a serious dilemma over what to do with the controversial Minister without incurring a damaging politcal backlash. President Tinubu is weighing various options as to the best less controversial one to ease out Wike from his FCT Olympian height without disastrous political cost to him ( president).

A highly placed presidency source told this magazine that, to tame Wike’s unsettling brashness and his propensity to huff and puff considered inimical to the public perception of the administration, Tinubu has, long before the intense altercation with the Naval officer, mulled redeployment of the Minister from the FCT Ministry to another Ministry that will not give him the latitude for visibility and influence.

Though the President is reportedly planning a major cabinet reshuffle that will see Ministers swap Ministries which could seen Wike re-assigned, the former Rivers governor’s spat with Lt. Yerima may have provided ammunition to hawks within the President’s inner circle to push for his outright sack from the cabinet to protect the integrity of the administration. The hawks, the magazine was told, are impressing it upon the President the imperativeness of distancing himself and his administration from Wike’s uncouth behaviour and impunity. They argue that the FCT Minister is attracting to the administration odium and opprobrium and doing more harm than good to the image of the President and must be stopped before it is too late given the President’s 2027 re- election ambition.

Said the source: “The anti- Wike elements in Tinubu’s kitchen cabinet are opposed to giving the FCT Minister a soft landing by redeploying him to another Ministry, rather they want him outrightly sacked from the cabinet to prove to Nigerians that his uncouth behaviour, combative,  aggressive and condescending attitude towards political opponents do not bear the President’s imprimatur.

“The hawks told the President that, given APC virtual takeover of Southern Nigeria’s political spectrum, the political dynamics in the country have changed hence 2027 will be different from 2023 and so, with or without Wike, he will comfortably win Rivers state in 2027.

“They plainly told him that he does not need the embattled Minister to swing the state for him as he did in 2023 or win the FCT and must therefore be dispensed with before he does incalculable damage to his 2027 re- election bid”

The doves on the other hand have reminded President Tinubu that without Wike, as a sitting Rivers Governor thwarting Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi’s unassailable lead in the state, he ( Tinubu) would have lost in Rivers and the presidential election dragged into a run- off which outcome no one could have predicted.

“The pro- Wike camp in the president’s inner circle are of the view  that the President should not pay Wike’s role in his becoming president with a sack. They insist that his brashness notwithstanding, the Minister remains a political force to be reckoned with and will be needed in 2027. The doves are in essence pleading that Wike be redeployed to another Ministry if he is no longer desired as the FCT Minister following his clash with the Navy”, Aso Villa sources told the magazine.

It has however, been gathered that some of the anti- Wike elements in the Tinubu administration favour the the former Rivers governor’s replacement as FCT Minister with another serving South South Minister. They believe that if reassigned to another Ministry, Wike will voluntarily resign from the government thus fitting into design.

“Don’t forget that he literally begged and lobbied for the FCT job, I can bet you that if President Tinubu reassigns him to another Ministry, he will leave the government because no Ministry will give him the influence, power and prestige the FCT Ministry is giving him; as you can see, he is carrying on as if he is the Lord Manor of Abuja; he is throwing his weight around unchallenged; prancing the space as  the “Supreme-Governor” or “Governor- General” of Abuja and wielding the power of “life and “death” over everyone in the FCT.

“Wike is power drunk, he won’t agree to superintendent any Ministry that will turn him to a sitting duck”, another source familiar with the goings on in the presidency informed the magazine.

In another development,  a competent military source has revealed that some ex- Generals from the three arms of the Armed forces- the Army, Navy and Airforce- are seething with anger over what they see as Wike’s unpardonable disrespect to the military institution.

“A civilian calling a commissioned officer in uniform a fool is something retired Generals are not happy about. They consider it as a taboo, a desecration of military honour, prestige.

“Many are making their displeasure and demand for Wike’s sack known through official channels.

“Read through the former Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Yusuf Buratai’s press release on the Wike- Yerima’s tango and draw a conclusion yourself”, the source said.

Meanwhile, former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Professor Chidi Odinkalu has come down heavily on the FCT Minister, stressing that he was on the wrong side of everything in his encounter with Lt. Yerima. According to  Professor Odinkalu,  “for the record, let me clear:

Nyesom Wike is a Minister of the Federal Republic & an appointee of the President. He is neither a police officer nor a bailiff.

“A lot of people who claim to be lawyers go about this thing with no regard for law.

Wike was plainly on the wrong side of everything: law, common sense, decorum, & ministerial propriety.

The only thing he had on his side was alcohol.

Wike had no right to be where he was. There is no ministerial right or power to enter land in adverse possession without a court order.

“Ideological purists like me may quarrel with it but a lot of people forget that s. 33(2)(a) of the Nigerian constitution grants a right to kill lawfully in defence of property rights & effective possession is an intangible property right.

“Wike was a trespasser using force to enter land in adverse possession & without lawful Court order or warrant. He was on a mission of Ministerial Vigilantism”

Continuing, the Professor of Law stated: “He was lucky to come out without injury or worse.

An officer of less discipline or one who takes Johnnie Walker for breakfast – like Wike – may have been less parsimonious with a projectile. The Shiites in Zaria did a lot less & see what happened to them.

“I am not sure people realize what amount of trouble this puts Wike in. This affects the authority of the president as C-in-C. The officer corps will be looking out for how the C-in-C handles this”