Wike as FCT Minister: A Blessing to Nigeria, By Karl Chinedu Uchegbu.



Reading Olu Fasan's lengthy diatribe against the Minister of the FCT, Chief Barr. Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, was both torturuos and frustrating, on account of his casual disregard for facts and logic. The write up also evoked deep sympathy for the author, who comes across as a tortured mind screaming for attention and help.

Schadenfreude can literarily be explained as a condition that affects someone who derives pleasures from the misfortune of another. Olu Fasan's illogical postulations was a clear manifestation of schadenfreude.

In his desperate attempt to drag the FCT Minister in the mud, he ended up muddling his thought processes by dragging the supplementary budget and casting aspersions on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over issues that has been already clarified, justaposing it with issues that are internal to the smooth running of the FCT and the political misunderstanding in Rivers State.

Wallowing in self induced manic depression, Olu Fasan choose to forget that spending on state house clinic, feeding in the villa etc are recurrent expenditure that is a feature of every administration since 1999 and even under the military. Bouyed by selective amnesia, Olu Fasan cannot remember that President Buhari spent huge sums on the same budget items while in Aso Rock. Of course it will be too much thinking for Olu Fasan and his co-travellers to remember that since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took over from Buhari, the serial killing of Nigerians by Fulani herdsman, who were aided by those in government has stopped. Will they remember that President Tinubu, has been travelling abroad selling Nigeria in an untiring effort to attract investment and reluanch the national economy on the path of growth.


Questioning the rationale for the appointment of Chief Barr. Wike as the Minister of the FCT is a clear demonstration of schizophrenia, a condition that afflicts the victim with inability to interprete reality normally.

At it's inception Abuja was mainly a civil servant city and a few rich people. I Over the years Abuja has evolved into a megacity and with this evolution, came the bastardisation of the Abuja masterplan. Abuja lost its orderliness. The covers of virtually all the underground drains were stolen. Street lights were not working well in some areas. There was filth in some parts of Abuja; in Maitama, around the Federal Secretariat, the road leading to the National Assembly, Jabi and other highbrow areas.

This is the FCT Wike met. The mandate President Bola Tinubu gave to him is not different from the mandate Obasanjo gave to El-Rufai. So the opposition and uproar is understandable. El-Rufai experienced the same opposition and blackmail. It is therefore not unexpected that Wike will face the same flack because he is trying to bring sanity, orderliness and more developments to Abuja.

The appointment of ministers, especially that of the FCT is the prerogative of the president. Wike can only be judged based on his performance in office as FCT Minister. He did well in Rivers State and he will be do better in Abuja. His mandate, is to make Abuja the most beautiful city in Africa and one of the best in the world. There is no action Wike has taken so far in the FCT that raises suspicion or violates the Constitution.

Hitherto, the indigenous people of the FCT were relegated to the background. But he is giving them attention. He has given vehicles to traditional rulers within FCT and promised indigenous communities within the FCT quota in employment into FCT agencies. He has secured approval for establishment of FCT Civil Service Commission. This will make FCT civil servants to rise to the pinnacle of their careers. He is about to commence construction of roads in satellite towns within the FCT. He is campaigning for better welfare for judicial officers in the FCT. He has many other good plans for the FCT.

Of course those whose plots of land were revoked and those whose properties were demolished have every reason to feel bad. It is natural, but Wike has not been subjective. Even plots of land belonging to government agencies were revoked. Customs officials went to see him and he told them that those who want their land back should repurchase them at current value and pay all necessary fees. Wike’s traducers have not told us their real grouse. Maybe, they are used to indolence, inertia and ineptitude. That is not Wike. You might accuse Wike of being brash, but he is well educated, experienced in governance and a goal getter.


Wike and President Tinubu enjoy a personal relationship that is underpinned by mutual respect and admiration for competence, intellect, hard work and dedication to serving the people.


The foci of the grouse of Olu Fasan and his co-travellers can be located in the last paragraphs of his write up. It is obvious that some people whose political sojourn has come to a screeching halt, are afraid that Wike's esposure as the FCT Minister and given his legendary devotion to performance, will eclipse their wanning stars, which has burnt out. This jaundiced perception of reality is what is fueling the array of contrived attacks by hastily recruited political sicarios and headunters.


Being a renowned purveyor of falsehood, Olu Fasan, in his rush to dance to the drums of his master's, forgot that opinions may be free, but facts are sacred. By what strange clairvoyance did he come up with the puerile allegations he leveled against Wike? Can he offer proof that Wike asked for 20 billion monthly from Fubara? How did he come up with the wild claim that Wike wants to destroy PDP, a party he helped built?

It needs to be restated here that Wike is a politician who does not beat about the bush. He says things the way he sees it, which is a clear departure from other politicians. Who does not know, that relevance is central to politics? Who does not know that the political structure is the foremost leadership recruitment and interest aggregation mechanism in politics? Wike can never be found among those who like the ostritch, bury it's head in the sand, while pretending that it's rump is not protruding. He says it the way it is, and his people love him for it. Those who want to continue to live in lies and deciet should continue to wallow in their polically induced Bipolar Disorder.



Karl Chinedu, a journalist and rights activist, wrote from Port Harcourt.

Wike is a workaholic. And Everyone knows that

Let's give them like after a year, we will know if they have performed