Former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, has strongly criticised the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, over a viral video in which Wike was seen verbally assaulting a naval officer who reportedly stopped him from accessing a disputed parcel of land in Abuja.
In a post shared on his verified Facebook page, Chidoka condemned Wike’s behaviour, describing it as unbecoming of a public official. He urged the FCT Minister to apologize to the officer involved, insisting that the incident reflected poorly on the dignity of his office.
Chidoka stated:
“Any law enforcement officer, in uniform or plain clothes, represents the President and the sovereignty of the Nigerian state. To abuse such an officer is to diminish the authority of the Republic itself.”
According to him, Wike’s decision to personally intervene at the disputed site was a grave error and a breach of democratic principles.
“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.
“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 wrote.
The former aviation minister further emphasised that proper administrative procedures should have been followed if Wike
had grievances regarding the naval officer’s actions.“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,” Chidoka stated.
He added that Wike owed the naval officer an apology for his abusive language, which he described as “unacceptable conduct” for a government official.
Chidoka also took a swipe at Wike’s DSS protective detail, accusing them of mishandling the situation.
“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,” he noted.
Concluding his remarks, Chidoka said the incident should serve as a lesson for public officials on restraint and respect for institutional procedures.
“This episode is a cautionary tale: it demeans the dignity of the office of the Minister and undermines the image of disciplined governance,” he added.
