Friday, September 19, 2025 - Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike has criticised activist and African Action Congress Presidential Candidate Omoyele Sowore over his remarks describing President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”
In a tweet on August 25, Sowore referred to a video of
Tinubu during his visit to Brazil, in which the President claimed 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!” the tweet read.
Following the post, the Department of State Services filed
criminal charges against Sowore for defamation, alleging he used false
statements in violation of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes and Terrorism Prevention laws.
The agency also requested that social media platforms X and Meta remove the
tweet, citing threats to national security and public order. Sowore refused to
delete the tweet, accusing the DSS of attempting to silence dissent and
describing their actions as “despicable.”
Speaking during the flag-off of the construction of Arterial
Road N1 in Wuye on Thursday, September 18, Wike said Sowore was “lucky” that
Tinubu respected the rule of law. “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.
Addressing the indefinite strike by the FCT Chapter of the
Association of Resident Doctors, Wike explained that the administration
allocated N25 billion to the health sector in the 2025 budget, recently
approved by the National Assembly. He noted that payment of allowances and
employment of doctors must follow established procedures and urged the doctors
to exercise patience.
“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. 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. They say oh, we’re not talking about improving health facilities.
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,” he said.
Wike also warned against politicising the FCT Civil Service.
“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,” he added.
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