WIKE faces backlash for celebrating son’s graduation from overseas university

Friday, January 10, 2025 - The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has come under fire for celebrating his son’s recent graduation from a foreign institution.

Wike, a former governor of Rivers State, shared the celebration on his X handle, drawing backlash from critics, particularly Rivers indigenes.

Critics recalled that in 2015, shortly after Wike assumed office as governor, he discontinued the sponsorship of Rivers State students studying abroad under the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency, RSSDA.

The scholarship programme, initiated by Wike’s predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, became dormant during Wike’s tenure, leaving students and their families in distress.

Aggrieved residents accused Wike of depriving Rivers youths of international educational opportunities while funding his own son’s foreign education.

An old video of Wike speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily also resurfaced online.

In the clip, Wike argued that certain courses, including law, should be studied in Nigeria rather than abroad—coincidentally the same course his son studied overseas.

A Port Harcourt-based youth activist, Charles Jaja, described the situation as hypocritical, questioning why Wike prioritised his son’s education abroad while cancelling similar opportunities for others during his administration.

According to him: “Years back, former Governor Wike pulled out all Rivers children sent abroad to study at various foreign universities by Rotimi Amaechi’s administration, claiming that Amaechi only wasted Rivers money in sending those children abroad to study courses that could have been offered here in Nigeria.

“Today, he’s on his handle celebrating the graduation of his own son in the UK, where he studied law. Is this not hypocritical in all ramifications?

“He says one thing and does another. Why didn’t he allow his own son to study law here in RSU (Rivers State University) or in any other university in Nigeria?

“It is a complete injustice on his own part to have deprived these children of benefiting from what the state had to offer them, by returning them to Nigeria and not allowing them to complete the course of their dreams where they were sent to study.

“I certainly believe that the cry of these children has risen to God as a memorial and that God will certainly avenge their cries for them. If not now, certainly later.”