There was tension in Abuja on Tuesday when soldiers prevented the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, from gaining access to a parcel of land located in Gaduwa District.
Wike, who was on an inspection visit to the site alongside officials of the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority (FCDA), was stopped by armed soldiers who reportedly refused him entry.
Eyewitnesses said the minister, visibly angered by the soldiers’ action, engaged them in a heated exchange. The soldiers insisted they were acting on orders from above, allegedly because the land was linked to a former Chief of Naval Staff.
“Because you are an officer? Nobody does that. The man took land because he was the Chief of Naval Staff?” Wike queried furiously.
Responding, one of the soldiers insisted the land was lawfully acquired. “I am an officer with integrity. Everything was acquired legally,” he said.
An enraged Wike shouted back, “Shut up!” to which the officer replied, “I will not shut up.” The confrontation escalated, with Wike saying, “You are a very big fool. As at the time I graduated, you were still in primary school. You will see if you will not leave here. Go and develop there and let me see.”
Security personnel in Wike’s entourage tried to calm the situation and persuade the soldiers to grant the minister access, but they refused, maintaining their blockade.
Expressing his frustration, Wike said, “We cannot continue to act in impunity. We cannot continue this way. This country cannot go along this line. You cannot be higher than any government. You cannot be carrying a gun to intimidate anybody. I am not one of those they can intimidate.”
The minister further criticized the alleged use of military authority to obstruct government work, adding that the rightful procedure would have been to approach his office for clarification rather than deploy soldiers to guard a disputed property.
“I don’t understand how somebody who attained that position, seeing that he has a problem, cannot approach my office to say, ‘Look, this is what’s going on.’ Or simply because he is a military man, they could use that to intimidate Nigerians. I’m not one of those kinds of people who will succumb to blackmail,” Wike stated.
The soldiers, however, stood their ground and refused to allow Wike and his team access to the land.
As of press time, the Federal Capital Territory Administration had yet to issue an official statement on the incident.
