₦airaland Forum

By Temidayo Akinsuyi

A former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka on Tuesday said FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike took a fundamental misstep by verbally abusing a military officer on lawful duty.

In a viral video obtained by our correspondent, Wike was engaged in a tense exchange with an unidentified military officer at the Gaduwa District of the FCT.

The minister was seen accusing the military officer of unlawfully guarding a parcel of land allegedly linked to a former Chief of Naval Staff.



Wike who questioned the military’s claim to the property, also called the officer a fool.

However, in a statement titled ‘Minister Wike: Power, Process, and the Rule of Law’, Chidoka said Wike diminished the Federal Republic of Nigeria by verbally abusing an officer in uniform.

“Any law enforcement officer, in uniform or plain clothes, represents the President and the sovereignty of the Nigerian state. To abuse such an officer is to diminish the authority of the Republic itself.

Minister Nyesom Wike’s decision to personally enforce a directive at a disputed site was a fundamental misstep. In constitutional democracies, power operates through institutions not impulse.


Executive authority must be exercised or adjudicated through the courts, ministries, and lawful instruments of state, never through confrontation. No matter how justified a grievance, a minister cannot become an enforcer; that violates the very idea of ordered government.

In a democracy, ministers act through process, not presence. A formal communication to the Minister of Defence, whose office oversees the Armed Forces, would have sufficed. If the officers were on illegal duty, the established disciplinary systems would have addressed it.

When a minister trades words with a uniformed officer acting under orders — lawful or otherwise — it corrodes discipline and confuses hierarchy.

The officer’s duty is to obey the chain of command, not verbal instructions on a roadside; the minister’s duty is to act through lawful channels.


The Minister should apologise to the officer for using abusive language. It is not acceptable behaviour.

The conduct of the DSS protective details was equally unprofessional. Their responsibility was to extract their principal from a rancorous and potentially dangerous situation, not to escalate it.

Security officers must remember that their loyalty is to the state, not to personalities.


This episode is a cautionary tale: This episode demeans the dignity of the office of the Minister and undermines the image of disciplined governance”.

https://independent.ng/apologise-for-calling-military-officer-a-fool-ex-minister-tells-wike/ u9 uk

Wike has finally met his match....

I like Wike but his lackadaisical attitude towards others is appalling.....

Na him Sabi cha......Na military he wan follow do.

When you have agbero as minister, that is the type of behavior you get. Pride goes before a fall.

Wike, dont mess up with the military. Those guys are angry. Dont provoke them further

Chidoka has said it all. Wike should apologize to the officer.

He thinks he's at obio akpor motor park

The Officer was highly gallant, intelligent and handled the harassment professionally as a Soldier man would..

I doff my hat for him.
Wike is an insult to this country. Verbally harassing a soldier is akin to insulting this country. They are the human face of this country.

The downfall of the dipso will be comical 😂

But it is ideal for MNK to abuse the judges, the court and the Nigeria Constitution.

We didn't see you make such defense when such imputiy was going on in our court.

Chidoka you are wrong on this, a similar incident occured in Lagos during Fashola regime where a military personnel was seeing driving though BRT line,Fashola personally accosted the military personnel and forced him do the right thing.

This is a democracy and not military regime.

To even think the order came from a retired CNS in itself makes it an illegal. What power does a retired personnel has to deploy a serving military man to police his landed property.

I trust Wike as a Minister to get to the root of the matter, the Captain is likely to be the fall guy at the end of the day.

Wisdom matters in everything to be

He is power drunk. I like that the real owners of Nigeria are finally putting him in his place

Wike should be made to explain why he was exchanging words with a military officer.

What was his interest in the matter?

Wike spoke on phone to the CDS but even that wasn't enough to get the boys to stand down. Even the current CDS is a boy to the retired Admiral. Wike does not understand nor respect the regimentation that is the Nigerian Military. It is the last surviving institution that politicians have not yet succeeded in fully pocketing.

Ebubu6:
The Officer was highly gallant, intelligent and handled the harassment professionally as a Soldier man would..

I doff my hat for him.
Wike is an insult to this country. Verbally harassing a soldier is akin to insulting this country. They are the human face of this country.

The soldier was stupidly defending illegality while you praise a man wearing Nigerian uniform abusing the constituted authority

The unbridled arrogant power drunk tyranny of Nyesom Wike has been allowed for too long. The man have put himself in bad light everywhere

AMINDA:
Wike spoke on phone to the CDS but even that wasn't enough to get the boys to stand down. Even the current CDS is a boy to the retired Admiral. Wike does not understand nor respect the regimentation that is the Nigerian Military. It is the last surviving institution that politicians have not yet succeeded in fully pocketing.

You're just talking anyhow

Nah talk like this go make that brigadier general dey plan a coup, nah he's locked up. The military is in the pocket of the commander of the armed forces

Ikaeniyan0:
You're just talking anyhow

Nah talk like this go make that brigadier general dey plan a coup, nah he's locked up. The military is in the pocket of the commander of the armed forces

If they were truly planning a coup, then locking up a handful of men is attempting to treat a symptom instead of addressing the root cause. It's tantamount to placing a band-aid over a bullet wound. I would prefer to go with the official position that there was no attempt at a coup.

Let both of them fight make i check something but Pls If you are living around

Lagos
Ojo
IMO
Abia
Ebonyi
Auchi
Igarra
Ekpoma
Jattu
Afuze
Otuo
Ikeja
Ikorodu
Berger
Lekki
Ajah
Epe
Nnewi
onitsha
Zuba
Jaji
.Please Don't Come out tomorrow by 8:00am. Even if you will come out tomorrow please don't come out with your car, machine or bicycle, just stand one place and be observing.

I will be learning how to drive Caterpillar. I will pass those areas🙏 thank you

AMINDA:
If they were truly planning a coup, then locking up a handful of men is attempting to treat a symptom instead of addressing the root cause. It's tantamount to placing a band-aid over a bullet wound. I would prefer to go with the official position that there was no attempt at a coup.

Well, the miscreants are all in detention, let them keep on rotting there

All bark and no bite, I was hoping to see some shooting.....

It's funny how clowns and clout chasers like Chidoka is doing his best to spin this around. He mustn't forget that this is a civilian dispensation and his advice amounts to a truckload of baloney.

Wike is set for eruption soon, and it will be very swift ,you can win all the time

bolaayenimo:
By Temidayo Akinsuyi

A former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka on Tuesday said FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike took a fundamental misstep by verbally abusing a military officer on lawful duty.

In a viral video obtained by our correspondent, Wike was engaged in a tense exchange with an unidentified military officer at the Gaduwa District of the FCT.

The minister was seen accusing the military officer of unlawfully guarding a parcel of land allegedly linked to a former Chief of Naval Staff.



Wike who questioned the military’s claim to the property, also called the officer a fool.

However, in a statement titled ‘Minister Wike: Power, Process, and the Rule of Law’, Chidoka said Wike diminished the Federal Republic of Nigeria by verbally abusing an officer in uniform.

“Any law enforcement officer, in uniform or plain clothes, represents the President and the sovereignty of the Nigerian state. To abuse such an officer is to diminish the authority of the Republic itself.

Minister Nyesom Wike’s decision to personally enforce a directive at a disputed site was a fundamental misstep. In constitutional democracies, power operates through institutions not impulse.


Executive authority must be exercised or adjudicated through the courts, ministries, and lawful instruments of state, never through confrontation. No matter how justified a grievance, a minister cannot become an enforcer; that violates the very idea of ordered government.

In a democracy, ministers act through process, not presence. A formal communication to the Minister of Defence, whose office oversees the Armed Forces, would have sufficed. If the officers were on illegal duty, the established disciplinary systems would have addressed it.

When a minister trades words with a uniformed officer acting under orders — lawful or otherwise — it corrodes discipline and confuses hierarchy.

The officer’s duty is to obey the chain of command, not verbal instructions on a roadside; the minister’s duty is to act through lawful channels.


The Minister should apologise to the officer for using abusive language. It is not acceptable behaviour.

The conduct of the DSS protective details was equally unprofessional. Their responsibility was to extract their principal from a rancorous and potentially dangerous situation, not to escalate it.

Security officers must remember that their loyalty is to the state, not to personalities.


This episode is a cautionary tale: This episode demeans the dignity of the office of the Minister and undermines the image of disciplined governance”.

https://independent.ng/apologise-for-calling-military-officer-a-fool-ex-minister-tells-wike/ u9 uk

Well said...Wike should hav not been there. Communication to d military authorities was necessary .d boy go fire u bullet nothing go happen.Fear d calmness of navy officers...dem dey craze o

At the end of the day, I want to see who would kiss d dust in this scenario(Is it gonna be Wike or Zubairu or Yerima)

..............the most connected figure to Tinubu would win the battle.


I am watching

The president is the only civilian that has right to command the millitary,not like and not any governor.
Wike over stepped here oh.

..use'":less distractions..

..tilumbu should come explain what he has been doing with all the loans he has collected...

..he should deal with terrorism..

Wike is a law unto himself.

FreeStuffsNG, I sight you.

stuffs2002:
The soldier was stupidly defending illegality while you praise a man wearing Nigerian uniform abusing the constituted authority

Salewa97:
Wike should be made to explain why he was exchanging words with a military officer.

What was his interest in the matter?

why will an ordinary officer be forming hardman for a federal Minister?
Nonsense and officer.
Who knows ?the officer might be Gumi's Son

Lere Horlayinka was writing rubbish the other day about Nnamdi Kanus outburst in court.

What then is he going to say now about his thug messiah?

AMINDA:
Wike spoke on phone to the CDS but even that wasn't enough to get the boys to stand down. Even the current CDS is a boy to the retired Admiral. Wike does not understand nor respect the regimentation that is the Nigerian Military. It is the last surviving institution that politicians have not yet succeeded in fully pocketing.

if the military is the only institution you think is alive,then everything is dead.
An institution where Gumi retired as a captain.
An institution that has "repentant boko Haram "as personnel.
Useless institution

stuffs2002:
The soldier was stupidly defending illegality while you praise a man wearing Nigerian uniform abusing the constituted authority

You can speak all the English you want but a military man will not disobey his superior's order. I'm sure Wike already knew this before going to the land in question, why he still decided to do it is beyond me.

Ikaeniyan0:
You're just talking anyhow

Nah talk like this go make that brigadier general dey plan a coup, nah he's locked up. The military is in the pocket of the commander of the armed forces

Is Wike the commander of the armed forces?
Ordinary government appointee!