The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, is “lucky” that President Bola Tinubu believes in the rule of law despite describing him as a criminal.
Speaking during the flag-off of the construction of Arterial Road N1 in Wuye on Thursday, Wike noted that no other president would tolerate such remarks without consequences.
“This is a country where somebody on social media will say Mr President is a criminal; nothing will happen. You say all kinds of things you want to say, but nothing will happen.
“No matter how you see people criticise Trump, have you ever seen any American citizen on social media, or in the public, say our President is a criminal? Have you heard that?
“But here, anybody can wake up in the morning and abuse the President, and we are happy. You are lucky you have a President who believes in the rule of law. You are lucky. Continue to be lucky. There are those you will meet that you won’t be lucky again,” Wike said.
His comments came after Sowore, in a tweet on August 25, described President Tinubu as a “criminal” while reacting to a video where the President, during a visit to Brazil, declared that there was no corruption in Nigeria.
“This criminal @officialpbat actually went to Brazil to state that there is no more corruption under his regime in Nigeria. What audacity to lie shamelessly!,” Sowore had tweeted.
Following the post, the Department of State Services (DSS) filed criminal charges against Sowore for defamation, accusing him of making “false” statements that violated Nigeria’s Cybercrimes and Terrorism Prevention laws. The DSS also asked social media platforms X and Meta to take down the tweet, describing it as a threat to national security and public order. Sowore, however, refused to delete the post, insisting the DSS was trying to silence dissent, and branded their actions as “despicable.”
On the ongoing indefinite strike by the FCT Chapter of the Association of Resident Doctors, Wike explained that the administration had earmarked N25bn for the health sector in the 2025 budget, recently approved by the National Assembly.
“The SSS called me that people said they will demonstrate, that we are paying attention to roads, we are not paying attention to health. I called the Director, listened, demonstration is allowed everywhere. Nobody will blackmail me, nobody will stop me from doing what I think is right, and do it at the right time,” he said.
Read also: FG disburses N330bn cash transfers to poor, vulnerable Nigerians
“The people who now say, look, they are being owed allowances, fine. We lost our Head of Service; we just appointed an acting Head of Service. And I said, okay, go and check, how much are they talking about?
“They said oh, they’ve not employed doctors. I said chairman Civil Service Commission they said they’ve gotten a waiver, fine. What’s my own? Go and employ them. I am not a doctor, I’ve never thought to be a doctor, go ahead and employ them.
“In the 2025 budget, the Capital budget for health alone, we put N25bn. Ask them, when did you get our budget? We got our budget July. We got our budget in July from the National Assembly. So, each time you see people, they won’t ask questions,” Wike added.
The minister further cautioned against dragging the FCT Civil Service into politics, stressing, “If you want to enter political party A, you’re free to enter political party A and face me when the time comes. Don’t use Civil Service to play politics, no.”
“If the Permanent Secretary of the Treasury brings the bill now, that this is what the allowances are, what’s my own? Why would I hold it? They will pay. But know that everything has a procedure.
“But to tell me you will demonstrate, you will block the road, I told the Director of SSS, allow them to demonstrate, but nobody can stop me from holding this occasion today, not one,” the minister said.
