Nigerians react to Wike’s confrontation with military officers in Abuja

NIGERIANS, including the former Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, have reacted to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike’s confrontation with a military officer in Abuja on Tuesday, November 11, over a land dispute.

The ICIR reported that Wike was involved in a heated confrontation with an unidentified military officer, over an alleged land-grabbing incident at the Gaduwa District of Abuja.

A video of the confrontation captured Wike angrily accusing the officer of unlawfully seizing a parcel of land and questioning why the military was claiming ownership of the property merely because it was linked to a former Chief of Naval Staff.

Reacting to the incident, Buratai in a statement demanded that Wike tender an “immediate and unequivocal” public apology to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Commander-in-Chief, the entire Armed Forces of Nigeria, and the officer whose honour, he said, was violated.

“The events of November 11, 2025, involving the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barrister Nyesom Wike, demand an immediate and serious response.

“His public disparagement of a uniformed officer of the Nigerian Armed Forces transcends mere misconduct; it represents a palpable threat to national security and institutional integrity,” the former chief of army staff said.

He frowned at the minister’s verbal assault on a military officer in uniform, calling it “an act of profound indiscipline that strikes at the core of our nation’s command and control structure.

“It deliberately undermines the chain of command, disrespects the authority of the Commander-in-Chief, and grievously wounds the morale of every individual who serves under the Nigerian flag. Such actions erode the very foundation of discipline upon which our national security apparatus stands,” he added.

Buratai described Wike’s action undermining the Federal Government’s authority that should not be dismissed as political theatre, calling it a “reckless endangerment of national order.

“Our nation’s security must come first. It is time for decisive action, not the politics of military bashing. The integrity of our Armed Forces demands nothing less,” he said.

Similarly, the former Minister of Aviation and Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Osita Chidoka, said any law enforcement officer, in uniform or plain clothes, represented the president and the sovereignty of the Nigerian state.

He said abusing such an officer was to diminish the authority of the nation.

“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,” he said.

Chidoka argued that executive authority must be exercised or adjudicated through the courts, ministries, and lawful instruments of state, and not through confrontation.

He insisted that no matter how justified a grievance, a minister could not become an enforcer. He said doing would violate 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,” said Chidoka.

He explained that the officer’s duty was to obey the chain of command, not verbal instructions on a roadside, while the minister’s duty was to act through lawful channels.

He insisted that the minister should apologise to the officer for using abusive language.

“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 demeans the dignity of the office of the minister and undermines the image of disciplined governance,” he added.

He said if the security agencies had a lawful directive to implement, they must follow due process.

However, a renown human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, said the rule of law did not allow a Naval officer to secure a disputed plot of land.

“Have you wondered if the order Yerima is obeying is legal? If Yerima, Wike, and the officer who gave the order are subject to the rule of law, would the officer be able to order a Naval officer to secure a disputed plot of land? What is the role of the courts? I detest Wike’s methods, but my loyalty is to the law and the truth,” he wrote on his X handle.

Recall that the State Security Services (SSS) in 2016 alleged that Wike used his position as the Rivers State Governor to prevent its operatives from searching the house of and arresting a high court judge who allegedly kept two million United States Dollars in his residence.

The SSS said it raided the residences of two Supreme Court judges and two judges of the Federal High Court, based on allegations of corruption and other acts of professional misconducts by some judges.