₦airaland Forum

On Monday, September 29, 2025, Nigerians were informed of the tragic news of the death of Somtochukwu Christelle Maduagwu, a brilliant young journalist with ARISE News Channel, who was killed during an armed robbery at her residence in Katampe, Abuja. At just 29 years old, Somtochukwu represented the promise of Nigeria’s future—a vibrant, articulate, and courageous professional. Yet, her life was cut short in the supposed safety of Nigeria’s capital city.

Her death is more than an isolated tragedy; it is a glaring indictment of the abysmal state of insecurity in Abuja under the watch of Minister Nyesom Wike. Never in the history of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have residents lived under such pervasive fear. Abuja, once considered a sanctuary of relative calm, has now become a playground for criminals. Armed robbers, kidnappers, and bandits move freely, invading homes, dispossessing citizens, and spilling blood at will. If such terror can occur in an upper-middle-class neighbourhood like Katampe, one can only imagine the daily horrors unfolding in the suburbs—places like Kuje, Kubwa, Karshi, and Bwari—where security presence is minimal and communities are at the mercy of criminal gangs.

The rot we are witnessing is not accidental. It is the direct consequence of failed leadership. Wike has proven himself utterly incapable of grappling with the most basic duty of governance: the protection of lives and property. His incompetence is glaring, his priorities misplaced, and his tenure as minister a disaster for the people of Abuja.

Instead of confronting the insecurity ravaging the capital, Wike has chosen to play politics. He has spent his time grandstanding about roads, flyovers, and beautification projects — projects that, while important, mean nothing when residents cannot sleep with both eyes closed. Roads are not used by the dead. Flyovers mean nothing to families mourning loved ones killed by armed robbers or kidnappers. What use are city beautification projects when the very people who should enjoy them are living under siege?

Wike appears more interested in positioning himself politically than in delivering on the urgent mandate of securing Abuja. He courts the press with ribbon-cutting ceremonies and hypes infrastructure as if Nigeria’s capital were some tourist site, while criminality festers in neighbourhoods just a few kilometres away from his office. This is not leadership; it is a dangerous charade that has cost innocent lives.

Speak to residents of Abuja today, and you will hear stories that chill the blood. Kidnapping syndicates prowl the outskirts, targeting commuters on major roads and storming residential estates at night. Armed robbers terrorise communities, emboldened by the apparent absence of law enforcement. There is a pervasive sense of fear, the kind that gnaws at the soul and makes even the affluent feel defenceless in their fortified homes.

This was not the Abuja we once knew. The city may never have been crime-free, but it was never this bad. Abuja was supposed to be the last fortress of security in Nigeria. Today, that fortress has crumbled, and its fall is a direct reflection of the failure of those entrusted with its safety.

The buck does not stop with Wike alone. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must also shoulder responsibility for retaining such a glaringly incompetent minister. By keeping Wike in office despite his obvious failures, the president is sending a troubling message: that politics is more important than the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

This is not the time for political calculations or deals struck behind closed doors. It is about the survival of Nigerians in their own capital city. If the president truly believes in his “Renewed Hope” agenda, then he must act decisively. Renewed hope cannot thrive where fear reigns supreme. Abuja residents are not statistics; they are living, breathing Nigerians whose right to life is enshrined in the constitution. The president must summon the courage to put politics aside and sack Wike. Nothing less will suffice.

Wike may have built a reputation as a bulldozer of sorts in Rivers State, but Abuja is not Port Harcourt. Running the FCT requires more than loud rhetoric, media stunts, and cosmetic projects. It demands vision, competence, and the ability to coordinate complex security operations. Wike has shown none of these. Instead, he appears more concerned with his political battles, carrying his Rivers State brand of combative politics into a city that requires calm, competence, and strategic leadership.

The result is evident: Abuja has never had it this bad. Under his watch, the FCT has degenerated into a zone of fear. The death of Somtochukwu Maduagwu is only the latest, most high-profile example of the consequences of his failure. How many more must die before action is taken? How many families must mourn before the president recognises that the FCT is bleeding?

Supporters of the minister may argue that insecurity is a national problem and cannot be solved overnight. That much is true. But leadership is not about excuses — it is about results. Other ministers before Wike managed to maintain relative peace in Abuja, even when banditry raged in the North and insurgency flared in the Northeast. The difference then was that the FCT minister understood his mandate: to ensure that the nation’s capital was secure and functioning as the seat of government. Wike has failed that most basic test.
It is not too much to ask that the seat of Nigeria’s government be safe. If Abuja is unsafe, what hope is there for the rest of the country? If armed robbers can overrun Katampe, what confidence can foreign investors, diplomats, and visitors have in our nation’s capacity to protect them? This is not just a local issue—it is a national embarrassment with international consequences.

The tragic killing of Somtochukwu should be a wake-up call. Abuja cannot afford to stumble along this path of insecurity while the minister wastes precious time on vanity projects and political showmanship. Nigerians are watching. The world is watching. President Tinubu must act boldly by removing Wike and appointing a minister with the competence, vision, and dedication to restore security to Abuja.

Abuja deserves better. Its residents deserve to live without fear of armed robbers at their gates or kidnappers lurking in the shadows. The memory of Somtochukwu demands better. She should not have died in vain. The time for decisive action is now.



Ojebola, a Public Affairs Analyst, lives in Abuja.

helinues:
Some Nigerians are just so insensitive. So Wike should be held responsible for the killings of the Arise journalist.

Which society is producing the criminals, who are their parents?

DonBenny77:
Shouldn't he be held responsible for the insecurity in FCT?
Should his responsibility only be building roads, siphoning kickbacks from contractors and grabbing and relocating landed properties?

PAQ:
How can FCT be safe when all her neighboring states are under siege by Bandits/terrorists? How? As they have moved unchallenged from the bushes of Maiduguri, Niger, Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, Nassarawa... What stops them from hunting FCT? In the next 10years only God knows where this country will be, by then every family must have lost someone or have someone kidnapped. SHAME, we have no reason to celebrate NIgeria at 65! I blame APC and Buhari for where we are today.

helinues:
Some Nigerians are just so insensitive. So Wike should be held responsible for the killings of the Arise journalist.

Which society is producing the criminals, who are their parents?

Moroccoguy:
Obasanjo is the no 1 failure if he had reacted to SSS report in 2006 it may not have escalated to this level, all affected states are state with mineral resources which illegal mining is going on.

helinues:
Some Nigerians are just so insensitive. So Wike should be held responsible for the killings of the Arise journalist.

Which society is producing the criminals, who are their parents?

motymop:
So because an arise journalist was killed in an armed robbery... suddenly it is woke fault

DonBenny77:
Shouldn't he be held responsible for the insecurity in FCT?
Should his responsibility only be building roads, siphoning kickbacks from contractors and grabbing and relocating landed properties?

helinues:
Some Nigerians are just so insensitive. So Wike should be held responsible for the killings of the Arise journalist.

Which society is producing the criminals, who are their parents?

helinues:
Some Nigerians are just so insensitive. So Wike should be held responsible for the killings of the Arise journalist.

Which society is producing the criminals, who are their parents?

OneCandleAway:
Human life has no worth to you. Imagine what you are spewing.
May whatever God you serve forgive you.