When I saw the video of Chief Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), engaging a soldier in a shouting match, my mind raced back to an experience I had some time in 2010. Fuel tankers used to block the road in front of THISDAY offices at Creek Road, Apapa, Lagos state, making it virtually impossible for us to drive out after the close of work. After negotiations, the tanker drivers agreed to leave a little space between the lanes so that we could drive against traffic for up to 100 meters before turning onto Warehouse Road. This option was more realistic than creating a space for up to 700 meters if we were to avoid driving against one way. This brought us the needed relief.
On this occasion, some of us left the office around 10pm and took the agreed route — only to be stopped by soldiers attached to OP Mesa, a joint military task force. I was the editor of THISDAY then. I approached the officer leading the team to explain the situation. He was hostile. He ordered us to turn back. The more I pleaded, the angrier he got. He then decided to detain us. As more of my colleagues — using the same route — arrived at the spot, the band of detainees, or should I say hostages, expanded. We decided to call his commander. When he saw me making a call, he smiled, shook his head, and warned: “The person you are calling had better be senior to me, otherwise…”
I got through to the commander and he asked me to give the phone to the officer, who refused to take the call. The commander kept assuring me he would sort it out and advised me not to argue with the officer. He didn’t need to advise me, though — the Great Zik said only a fool will argue with a man holding a gun. Shortly after, the commander got through to the officer via the official channel. The mien of the officer changed. He, maybe, felt humiliated. He said my colleagues could go, apparently trying to keep me for longer. Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, then Sunday editor of THISDAY, sensed the game and calmly told him: “Please, officer, this is our boss. We cannot leave him behind.”
Take-away: unless you are drunk, please do not fight with a soldier. I was born under military rule, schooled under military rule and started life under military rule. I saw things that are not lawful for a man to utter. Please, do not mess with soldiers, no matter how close you are to the president. Military training is different. There is a reason the police are called a “civilian force” while the military are “the armed forces”. Police are trained to maintain law and order among fellow citizens (hence their titles are Mr, Alhaji, Dr, etc). Soldiers deal with “enemies”. Do you see them with handcuffs? They don’t take prisoners. That is why soldiers are only deployed to enforce order as a last resort.
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Before making my comments and observations on the avoidable altercation between Wike and Lt AM Yerima, I must necessarily commend the naval officer for his cultured conduct. As Wike rained insults on him, he stood his ground and replied with decorum. “You are stupid!” “I am not stupid, sir!” “You are a fool!” “I am not a fool, sir!” That was quite decent. I want to assume that it is because Yerima is a naval officer. If it was an army officer, I cannot guarantee something unfortunate would not have happened. And all we would do thereafter is to be observing “one-minute silence” up and down. In the least, Wike would have staggered away from the scene with marks across both cheeks.
I would like to say this. Why argue publicly with a junior officer when you can talk to his superior? In the military, order flows from the top. It is a regimented service. No soldier is going to leave his duty post because some politician said he should. He did not post himself there. He was not posted there by the FCT minister. He was posted there by his superiors. The minister cannot issue a counter instruction to him. If a soldier is under instruction not to allow anyone into a location, there will be unpalatable consequences for him should he fail to comply with the order. That is how the military operates globally: soldiers do not take instructions from anyone outside the hierarchy of command.
May I say as well that it was wrong of Wike to call a soldier in uniform a “fool”. That is a red line no one should ever cross. That is technically an assault on Nigeria as a country, not just an individual. If you don’t respect the man, please respect the uniform. Nonetheless, I also have serious issues with the deployment of soldiers to guard a private property. I consider this to be an abuse of privilege but we often overlook the anomaly because Nigeria is a country where anything goes. It is not just a private property, it is owned by a retired military officer. In a country battling insurgency, terrorism, pipeline vandalism and other security challenges, we surely could make better use of our soldiers.
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Now that we have dealt with the preliminary issues, let us consider the substantive matter. I will attempt a summary. According to Wike, the land was allocated to a company to build a public park. The company tried to convert it to residential but approval was not given. Yet, it sold a portion of the land to a former chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Sambo, who started construction. Officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) served a stop work order but this was ignored and construction continued, with soldiers deployed to site. Sambo is yet to tell us his own side of the story, but his lawyer is quoted as saying all the necessary papers are in place. The FCTA denies this.
Some of the issues for consideration here are: (1) should anybody — civilian or military — ignore a government order to stop work on a construction site? (2) does the FCT minister (or, in the case of a state, the governor) have the right to visit or inspect a construction site believed to be violating the law, even if it is owned by a military officer? (3) if yes, what crime did Wike commit then by visiting the site? (4) if no, does that mean planning approvals can be breached as long as it is by a military officer? (5) assuming Wike was right to visit the site following the reported assault of FCTA officials, was his manner of approach appropriate and worthy of a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
My answer to the first question is that nobody has a right to ignore government order. The land in question is not even owned by the military — it is the personal property of a former chief of naval staff. But even if it is military land, it is still subject to government rules and regulations. We should never create or nurture the notion that the military is above the law. If anything, military is governed by discipline, and what is discipline if you ignore lawful orders? While I have argued that there is a communication channel that should be explored to deal with matters relating to the military because of its peculiarities, I do not suggest that the military is above the law. Nigerian laws apply to all.
The FCT minister is the chief landlord of Abuja, just as the governor is the chief landlord of a state. That is what the Land Use Act stipulates. They have the right to allocate and revoke lands. They have the final say on approvals. Nobody has ever challenged the powers of an FCT minister or a governor to allocate and revoke lands, or to stop illegal constructions. We read of demolitions of illegal structures every day. As per my second, third and fourth questions, therefore, my answer is that the minister has the right to visit a construction site. This right does not discriminate between civilians and military officers. Everybody needs a building approval, whether you are a cleaner or a general.
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But that is the simplest part of the issue. The more complicated part is that there are widespread reports that Wike has been revoking land titles and re-allocating same less than transparently. You cannot revoke land in public interest and re-allocate it in private interest. The media had been awash with reports of unwholesome revocations and re-allocations. I understand that Wike also revoked the land of a former president. My sense is that Gambo had vowed that Wike could take other people’s land for fun — but not his own. Gambo may want to argue that what he has simply done is to deploy “ethical” resistance to a lawful order. Nevertheless, he must obey the rules of construction.
Finally, while I insist that military officers are not above the law and that Wike has the legal right to inspect the construction site, I must quickly add this biblical wisdom: all things are lawful but not all things are expedient. Wike created an unnecessary spectacle. The public show was avoidable. There are more civilised ways of handling the matter. I would, however, conclude my comments and observations by imploring Sambo to obey the laws of the land. If he has valid approvals, he should present them to the authorities for verification. This is a pure civil and personal matter. It has nothing to do with the military. Above all, it will also be good for the military guys to call themselves order.
AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…
STORM SOLUDO
Prof Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has been re-elected governor of Anambra state in a resounding style. He polled 422,664 votes while Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the runner-up, could only garner 99,445 votes. With no IReV or BVAS to blame — or Prof Mahmood Yakubu to bash — this time around, Soludo’s opponents decided to accuse voters of selling their conscience for a bar of gala and a can of malt. While we should continue to educate the people on vote trading, it is quite simplistic to attribute Soludo’s re-election to just one factor. In any case, Soludo must now face the task of leaving a legacy by 2030. Congrats!
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REPAIRING PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday held its national convention in Ibadan, Oyo state, after a series of ridiculous and troubling court injunctions and counter injunctions. My standard position has always been that if there is a subsisting court order, it must first be obeyed and then appealed against. However, I fully endorse the decision of the party to ignore the noises from the courts. Why? The Supreme Court has ruled that judges should stop adjudicating on the internal affairs of the political parties. How many times do we need to litigate and re-litigate what the apex court has made a definitive pronouncement over? Why can’t we allow this democracy to work for once? Frustrating.
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FLY, EAGLES, FLY
I’m not ashamed to admit that I am one of the few Nigerians hoping against hope that the Super Eagles will qualify for the 2026 World Cup holding in the US, Canada and Mexico. We had no business scraping the bottom of the pot in a year that Africa got nine automatic spots, but it is what it is. It took us 120 minutes to get rid of Gabon in the first African play-off match on Thursday. We face Congo today to determine who will fly the African flag in yet another qualifying play-off in March. The truth is that we were not at our best during the qualifying series as a result of administrative failures — and injury to Victor Osimhen, our talisman. Wishing us all the best today. Goaaaaaal!
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NO COMMENT
What’s going on here? The Nigerian Air Force Secondary School, Ikeja, Lagos state, has informed parents and guardians that their wards will take papers in new subjects in the 2026 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE). The only problem is that nobody has taught students the new subjects yet! That is what happens in this “immediate effect” society that we live in. Government introduces new subjects, no teachers, no textbooks, no syllabus — and declares that implementation will take “immediate effect”. This is astonishing. As Nigerians say on social media, if they explain Nigeria to you and you understand, then they didn’t explain it well. Hahahaha…
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