A former Minister of Aviation, Mr Osita Chidoka, has called on the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike to apologise to the officer of the Nigerian military he abused for executing a lawful order from a superior.
In a statement titled, “Minister Wike: Power, Process, and the Rule of Law,” Chidoka also slammed the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) for their unprofessional conduct.
He added that their responsibility in such situations was to extract their principal from a rancorous and potentially dangerous situation, not to escalate it.
“Minister Nyesom Wike’s decision to personally enforce a directive at a disputed site was a fundamental misstep,” Chidoka stated. “In constitutional democracies, power operates through institutions not impulse.”
He further stated that 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.”
Chidoka, a former Corps Marshal of the Nigerian Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), explained that 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. The officer’s duty is to obey the chain of command, not verbal instructions on a roadside; the minister’s duty is to act through lawful channels,” he said.
“The Minister should apologise to the officer for using abusive language. It is not acceptable behaviour.
“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 is a cautionary tale: This episode demeans the dignity of the office of the Minister and undermines the image of disciplined governance.”
Reporters had reported on Tuesday that a tense confrontation broke out in Abuja, when soldiers stopped Wike and officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) from gaining access to a property in Gaduwa District in the FCT.
In a video obtained by SaharaReporters, the soldiers on guard duty at the disputed site blocked the minister’s convoy, leading to a heated verbal exchange between Wike and one of the officers.
Visibly angry, Wike accused the soldier of obstructing government officials from performing their duties, while the soldier insisted he was acting under lawful orders.
In the video, Wike yelled, “Because you’re an officer, nobody does that (nobody acquires land illegally).”
The confrontation escalated when the soldier defended his conduct, stating that all actions taken on the land were legitimate. 
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