Defending Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory [FCT] and former governor of Rivers State, can be a tedious job. The problem is not so much with what he does as with how he does his things. Going by his idiosyncrasies, Wike is the type who, as a young school pupil, would have had his name topping every list of noise-makers in the class, even on the days he was not in school. His reputation seems to derive, to an extent, from his proclivity to kick up dust wherever he goes. It does not seem like there is any other way Nyesom Wike knows how to roll. He just has to rumble.
Wike was appointed minister of the Federal Capital Territory, mid-August 2023, in the wake of his completion of two terms as state governor, a tenure that was as productive as it was torrid. He worked hard and gained national acknowledgment for his infrastructural transformation of Rivers state.
Even Wike’s harshest critics cannot deny that he works hard. Indeed, his abilities are not in doubt. He usually delivers on assignments. That, is a profile he can always wave, especially in a society where many who get to public offices, merely gobble whatever benefits the positions offer, without adding value.
Wike completed his tenure as governor, standing as one of the state chief executives of his set, who could beat their chest and declare, without contradiction, that they impacted their environment positively. Still, he left office in a blaze of controversy, arising from his role in the 2023 general elections.
For those under Wike’s sphere of authority, he is like a machine on permanent recharge mode. He generates constant heat. In the last four months that he has presided over the federal capital as minister, the territory and its inhabitants have felt a taste of the heat that accompanies Wike. That, however, is not bad. We shall return to that.
Two separate incidents concerning Wike as minister, played out in the FCT last week. The two incidents speak, respectively, of the man, his ways and the reality of his being at the moment.
The first of the episodes was a virile video clip of the minister, apparently shot in the office of the Chief of Staff to the President. In the clip, an animated Wike, was energetically singing and dramatically dancing to “on your mandate we shall stand Jagaban”, the anthem of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress. The skit remains open to different interpretations, even as it left many baffled.
The second incident, seemingly weightier in reckoning, was an anti-Wike protest in Abuja last Thursday, which paraded a motley crowd that appeared under the generic banner of Network of Civil Societies for Economic Sustainability. From all indications, the group was cobbled together, essentially to march and call for the removal of Nyesom Wike as minister of the FCT. The theme of the protest was “Wike must go”. The prompt riposte to that is, why? Why should Wike go?
Adamu Kabir Matazu, who introduced himself as convener of the protest, tried his best, eloquently, to articulate the ground on which the protesters he led, called for the removal of Wike as FCT Minister. Try as Matazu did, to couch his case against Wike in fluid, altruistic language, it was crystally clear that the anti-Wike demonstration was not an instinctive action by a group of citizens. On the contrary, the protest was a sponsored exercise, the root of which was more parochial than nationalistic.
Matazu hurled all manner of invectives on the FCT minister. He accused him of being “incompetent and lacking vision for the Federal Capital”. Hear him, “Today, we stand united to express our concern over the direction of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the watch of Nyesom Wike. It is abysmal and disturbing for the FCT to become an epicentre of controversy due to the misguided actions of Wike, which not only undermined President Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda but also cast a shadow on the credibility of the federal government…Wike has remained a difficult person to the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and should be gotten rid of…..Wike has been insensitive; insulting the collective sensibilities of residents of the Federal Capital and Nigerians in general. His actions are avoidably controversial…”
In the course of his tirade, Matazu accused Wike of “perceived animosity towards a particular section of the country”. There, he skirted the real grouse of the sponsors of the anti-Wike protest. It was a tuff war of sorts. It had nothing to do with competence. Whatever the personal shortcomings of Nyesom Wike, it certainly is not incompetence. Matazu also picked up quarrel with what he referred to as the minister’s “diction”. Whatever that may be, it cannot constitute a cogent reason for asking for the removal of a minister. The truth is that Matazu could not boldly bring himself to declare the actual grouse of his sponsors, who are opposed to Wike being minister of the FCT.
It is vexatious and extremely insensitive for some people to hold and dare to agitate that the office of minister of the Federal Capital Territory ought to be reserved for citizens from the northern part of the country. In that provocative mind-set lies the root of the contrived protest against Wike last week. It is sad. How really does a country expect to make progress with such warped disposition?
Interestingly, Wike, has done more good for the FCT within the very short period he has been minister than he has done any wrong. He has tried to restore discipline and order in a beautiful city that was starting to lose its shine, largely because of indiscipline and administrative ineptitude. Over the recent years, Abuja had started to turn into another vast stretch of troubled urban hog between ghettoes and wayward grandiose structures.
So far, the minister has, through sheer force of his character and threats, managed to halt some of the erosion of order in FCT. In various instances, he has halted the inimical lawless tendency of those who believed they had the political clout to do whatever they wanted, without a thought for the future.
Wike’s shock treatment may not be easily palatable to many residents of Abuja, but his push to reverse the decay that had already set in across the territory deserves some appreciation. His single-minded drive to collect rates and dues that sundry land users have not paid over time has reportedly yielded gargantuan income for the FCT.
Without doubt, there are areas the minister needs to improve upon to achieve the goals he has set for himself at the FCT. At the critical Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS), for instance, the process of paying the ground rate and other rates, as well as validating payments and other documents, should be enhanced without delay. It does not make sense, economically or otherwise, for people who have responded in droves to the directive to go and settle their property bills to now spend almost a full day trying to do that.
These and such other administrative imperatives are genuine issues that should be raised for Wike and his FCT administration to address. Resorting to renting a crowd to carry “Wike must go” placards, simply because he is considered “alien”, is a clumsy strategy that will even gain more supporters for the man from those who believe that parochialism and clannishness are the bane of Nigeria.