Wike, Yerima: Building Something On Nothing…By Bolanle BOLAWOLE
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My phone rang and a professional colleague rained torrents of questions: “Assuming Nyesom Wike, the FCT minister, is a Northern Muslim, do you think Yerima would have responded to him the way he did?” “Assuming Yerima is a southerner or southern Christian, and the FCT minister is a northern Muslim, do you think Yerima would have responded to the FCT minister the way he did?” “Assuming Yerima is a southern Christian responding to a northern Muslim FCT minister the way he did, do you think he will be strutting all over the place or he will be on his way out of service?”
Rather than answer the questions, my mind went to a Christian Air Force Commanding Officer who took umbrage at someone driving a car into an helicopter hangar somewhere in Ikeja, Lagos. The CO’s anger was justified but he soon realised that the offender in question was a very senior officer, a northern/Fulani Muslim. Those familiar with the undercurrents of the military vowed it was a set-up because the CO, one of the continent’s best helicopter engineers of his time, had stubbornly refused to drop his Christian name, Jacob, for the Yakubu that was forced on him when he enlisted in the Force. His colleagues who kow-toed enjoyed perquisites and rapid promotion but his own otherwise brilliant career was cut short. He retired as a Squadron Leader. To advance in an institution dominated by Northern Muslims, you must speak the “official” language and worship its recognised deity. That is another variant of Christian genocide at work!
What are the facts of the case that led to a face-off between a serving Minister of the Federal Republic and a young military officer? According to information, a parcel of land in a location in Abuja was allocated to a company for parks and recreation. Such land does not qualify as permanent allocation; neither are they for residential or commercial purposes. Therefore, no Certificate of Occupancy is given, since the allocation is temporary and not permanent.
The company in question applied to have the use of the allocation varied but without approval, it parceled out the land and began to sell to willing buyers. One of such willing buyers was said to be a Service chief, now retired, who started erecting a permanent (residential?) structure on the land, without C of O, and without building approval whatsoever.
When this came to the notice of the appropriate authorities, which is the FCT administration under the purview of Wike, officials alerted those concerned about the status of the land in question. Rather than follow due process, the retired Service Chief reportedly resorted to self-help, got the services of armed military men to ward off FCT officials, and those ones reported back to their overall boss, Wike.
According to reports, Wike reported the matter to officers at the highest level of the Ministry of Defence, who could call the military officers in question, retired and serving, to order. Obviously not satisfied with the intervention that he got, Wike decided to bite the bullet and hold the bull by the horns. He physically went to the scene where the drama that has been widely reported took place. What can be worse than this was when Bashorun MKO Abiola was humiliated by some military boys he had called “mad dogs” and when Chief Bola Ige, the sitting federal Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, was murdered in his own bedroom in Ibadan, with the assailants yet to be unmasked.
Let us view the comments of sections of the public on the matter: “Nyesom Wike is a Minister of the Federal Republic and an appointee of the President. He is neither a police officer nor a (court) baliff…Wike was plainly on the wrong side of everything… Wike had no right to be where he was. There is no ministerial right or power to enter land in adverse possession without a court order…A lot of people forget that S. 33(2)(a) of the Nigerian constitution grants a right to kill lawfully in defence of property rights and effective possession is an intangible property right. Wike was a trespasser using force to enter land in adverse possession and without lawful court order or warrant… He was lucky to (have) come out without injury or worse…I am not sure people realize what amount of trouble this puts Wike in. This affects the authority of the president as C-in-C. The officer corps will be looking out for how the C-in-C handles this. In case anyone wonders who wrote this, my name is Chidi Anselm Odinkalu.”
“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 (on) 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.” – Osita Chidoka.“
The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, has faulted the conduct of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, during a confrontation with a military officer at a disputed site in Abuja. Matawalle disclosed that Wike disregarded the advice of both the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, and the Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, before proceeding to the site, despite being advised to allow the military handle the matter through proper channels. Wike should not have exchanged words with the officer; he ought to have addressed his concerns through the officer’s superiors. Anyone who disrespects a soldier indirectly disrespects the President, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.”
Another opinion said: “Brushing sentiments aside, I hereby condemn in totality the actions of the Naval Officer who obstructed the FCT Minister from gaining access into that parcel of land, under the guise of ‘obeying superior orders.’ The duty of a junior officer to obey the orders of his superiors, even though strongly upheld in military and paramilitary circles, has its own limitations recognised by no other authority but the Supreme Court of Nigeria. In the recent case of Onunze vs. State (2023) 8 NWLR (Pt. 1885) 61 at 108 SC, the Supreme Court held emphatically, per Ogunwumiju, JSC, thus: “My Lords, the obligation to obey the orders of a superior does not include orders that are palpably illegal or manifestly unjust. Every military or police officer swears an oath upon commissioning. The oath is not to obey all orders, it is to “preserve”, “protect” and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria against all enemies, foreign and domestic. When an officer obeys palpably illegal orders, they become personally liable for their actions and would be expected to face court martial or official sanction for the wrongdoing.“
Additionally, Wike is the equivalent of the Governor of a State – he being the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. More importantly, all lands in the FCT Abuja, by section 297(2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, belong to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. By section 302 of the same Constitution, read together with other extant Acts of the National Assembly, the President of Nigeria has delegated all powers with respect to land administration in the FCT Abuja to the Hon. Minister. Going by constitutional and administrative law, therefore, Mr. Wike stood in loco the President of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces on that fateful day. Consequently (obstructing) him from entering the land…was an affront to the civil authority of Mr. President.“
The Minister’s method may be brash; but it is legal and lawful in all respects. Rather, it is the officer who obstructed him that has breached not just the Nigerian Constitution, but also service and extant regulatory laws. For the avoidance of any doubt, section 114 of the Armed Forces Act makes military personnel criminally liable for civil offences.”- Prof. Sebastine Hon, SAN.
My teacher and foremost authority on civil-military relations, Professor Bayo Adekanye, has this to say: “In normal times, the Army General’s action will have been deemed as clearly in breach of the norm/principle of civilian supremacy over the military within a constitutionally elected democratic setting. He will have been written to (or even summoned) by the Minister of Defence to explain why civil disciplinary measures should not be initiated against him.”
Another opinion says: “The Wike–Yerima confrontation wasn’t just about law or rank; it was about ego management, institutional respect, and emotional intelligence in leadership. Both men stood on legitimate grounds, yet both failed the test of posture and process.
“Under the Armed Forces Act (Cap A20, LFN 2004), every soldier, sailor, or airman must obey lawful commands from superiors. But if an order has no military purpose, or serves private interests, or violates civil law or constitutional authority, then, it becomes an unlawful order — and obedience to it cannot be justified.
“Guarding a private property of a retired officer (who is now a civilian) has no military purpose unless the property is a designated military installation or the order was issued under proper authority (e.g., Defence Headquarters, for national security reasons). If not, the superior officer who gave that order acted improperly.
“The Minister of the FCT, under constitutional and statutory powers (e.g., the FCT Act), has authority over land administration, public property, and law enforcement within the territory. If the property in question falls within his legal jurisdiction, his directive carries constitutional weight.
“Therefore, when the Major defies the Minister’s lawful directive, he is effectively defying civil authority — which violates both the Constitution’s principle of civilian control over the military, and the Armed Forces Act, which subjects military personnel to the Constitution.
“If an officer is found doing illegal work while in uniform and on duty, the consequences are very serious, both legally and professionally…”
One commentator said the alibi of obeying “orders from above” has not exonerated anyone involved in abortive coup plots in this country!
From the above, it is clear that those railing at Wike are merely acting on sentiments, including, surprisingly and embarrassingly, the legal luminaries among them. It is trite that you cannot build something on nothing. The retired service chief in question does not have legal title to the land; he has no authority to possess and to build; accosted, he resorted to self-help and an act of impunity and intimidation of lawful authority.
However, we can understand where the anti-Wike vituperations are coming from. Wike occupies a Ministry that the North had come to see as its exclusive preserve. His performance in that office ridicules his predecessors, most of whom have come from the North. Wike prevented another Muslim/Northerner/Fulani from taking over power from Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. He is also seen as the one behind the intractable problem within the PDP. He is a PDP man serving in an APC government. The Wike/Fubara rift and the state of emergency in Rivers state did not go down well with those at the receiving end of it. Sixth is Wike’s personality traits, saluted by many, derided as well by many! One man’s food…
One argument says insulting a person in uniform amounts to insulting the Commander-in-Chief; another says the Minister of the FCT represents the President and Commander-in-Chief and an affront on him is an affront on the President. This, then, is a classical case of the king’s goat eating the king’s yam. The ball, then, is in the king’s court!
Former editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of The Westerner news magazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.
