The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and his wife, Justice Eberechi Suzzette Wike, are celebrating a proud family milestone as their son, Jordan, is being called to the Nigerian Bar today.
The ceremony marks Jordan’s formal induction into the legal profession, a significant achievement for the Wike family.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Nyesom Wike on Monday expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of work at the new Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal complex in Dakibiyu, Jabi District.
Briefing reporters after inspecting the Appeal Court Complex and the Judges’ Quarters in Katampe District, Wike expressed doubts about the project meeting its scheduled September 2025 completion date, intended to coincide with the Court of Appeal’s 2025 legal year celebration.
The Minister noted a prior commitment to the Court of Appeal that the new facility would be ready in time for their 2025 legal year.
However, after touring the site, he stated: “I’m afraid; I’m really not too satisfied. I don’t think that the contractor will meet up”.
Despite concerns, the Minister expressed confidence that the project would be completed and handed over to the Court of Appeal before the end of the year.
To ensure that the project is delivered this year, the Minister said he has summoned the contractor for an urgent meeting to strategize on how to accelerate the pace of work.
He emphasised the project’s importance, noting that it was dear to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Minister said: “I do know that it will not exceed this year. I have sent them to call the contractor. Let’s put our heads together because it’s one project that is dear to Mr. President”.
In contrast, Wike expressed satisfaction with the progress of work at the Judges’ Quarters project in Katampe District, which involves the construction of 40 units of five-bedroom duplexes for Justices of the Federal High Court, the FCT High Court, and the Court of Appeal.
The Minister said he was impressed with the speed of construction and expressed confidence that the January 2026 completion date will be met.
He underscored President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to providing fitting accommodations for Justices to ensure their independence and the effective discharge of their duties, noting that the President’s initiative aims to provide judges with a safe and secure living environment, allowing them to focus on their work.
He said: “We are impressed with the speed of work and the duration is for them to hand over by January 2026 with complete furnishing. I believe with the way they are going, they may be able to hand over before that date.
“But by and large, we are happy. This is the initiative of Mr. President, who has never hidden his intention to provide welfare and make the judiciary independent, where judges will not be living amongst criminals or as tenants, which is not the best.
“What Mr. President has done is to ensure that they have that autonomy. They will want to stay on their own to carry out their job”.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has declared that no amount of blackmail will influence him in the discharge of his duties.
Speaking on Monday at the flag-off of the construction of Access Roads ILS 02 and ILS 03 (Timipre Sylva Street) in Mabushi District, Abuja, Wike said he remains committed to serving both residents of the FCT and President Bola Tinubu.
“So if you like, organise yourself, cry from morning till night, call me whatever name you want, put my name on the internet, say anything you want to say—foul,” he said.
The minister stressed that blackmail is a common tactic against politicians, but vowed it would not derail his focus on delivering projects.
He said, “I am not one of those who will think that blackmail will change me. My skin is so thick, so strong. As a politician, you should know that these are things you will see, so why are you worried? No politician who is serial will think that people will not say something against them. Then go and sleep, go and rest.
“The day I set out to be a politician, I knew I was now up. People will say all kinds of things, so for me, say it. The only way I will be worried is if my appointor is not satisfied with what I am doing, then I will be worried. But just because we are not doing what you want, and then you think that by blackmail, it will make us do it, we will not do it. So, civil servants who are here, if you know those people you are organising, call them back, tell them that it’s like the thing won’t work, because I know it will not work”.
The FCT minister also criticized contractors and groups he accused of attempting to dictate government priorities.
“I mean, look at the country where you are a minister and people are signing contracts to the tune of ₦19–20 billion, and now somebody comes to say, ‘Oh, you are owing us.’ I determine what the priority is. I, representing Mr. President, determine what the priority is. You cannot determine for us what the priority is,” he stated.
According to Wike, infrastructure and social amenities remain at the heart of his agenda for FCT residents.
“I know what the people need, and that is why we are here to flag off road projects. It is not every day you pay contractors. That is just the nature of our people. Our people need hospitals, schools, and good roads,” he explained.
The minister emphasized that he was not seeking popularity, but rather wanted to be known for hard work.
Minister, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has confirmed Ghanaian firm JonahCapital Nigeria Limited as the original owners of River Park Estate in Lugbe, Abuja.
Wike made the clarification during a television programme, tracing the ownership dispute to an agreement signed between the FCT Administration and JonahCapital during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. JonahCapital, promoted by Sir Samuel Esson Jonah, was allocated Plot 4, Cadastral Zone E30 Lugbe, for the development of the estate.
According to the minister, the company later engaged Paulo Homes to facilitate building approvals from the FCT Development Control, a move he said was outside the terms of its agreement with the administration.
“A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, S.I. Ameh, wrote a petition, and I set up a ministerial panel headed by the General Counsel of the FCT. Their lawyers made presentations. The FCT has no agreement with Paulo Homes. The only agreement we signed was with JonahCapital,” Wike said.
He explained that while JonahCapital breached the terms of its lease by engaging Paulo Homes, its development lease has since expired. Wike said the administration decided to demolish structures put up by Paulo Homes and withdraw global Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) issued through the company, with a plan to reissue them directly to affected homeowners.
On recent enforcement actions at the estate, the minister said the move was to resolve ownership disputes and prevent irregularities in land administration.
Wike also criticised the activities of the Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Unit, led by Commissioner of Police Akin Fakorede, for holding a press conference alongside former Force Public Relations Officer Muyiwa Adejobi, where ownership of the estate was attributed to Paulo Homes.
Nyesom Wike’s story is etched on this era. Those who hate him may say he is the boor. But they cannot say he is boring. His foes hate him as though they crave him. They fight him as though they love him.
If, God forbid, he drops dead today, those who hate him would want to prop him up, and invoke the Lazarus hour with Jesus. It is like the line from Walt Whitman’s poem ironically titled, Reconciliation.
He writes: “My enemy is dead – a soul divine as myself is dead.” It is like the fight between Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. They both died within an hour of each other, with the other’s name on their lips as they expired.
Jefferson said: “So John Adams lives.” Adams reportedly predated his expiration with the same sentiment about the third president of the United States.
Online rodents who want Wike dead are no real enemies. He laughed them to scorn. They are mercantilist, just like rumours that the President was bedridden and waiting to be flown abroad as well as Senate President Godswill Akpabio. They are hungry for Google’s paycheck.
Wike’s real foes are companions. Critics of John Milton’s Paradise Lost assert that even the rendition of the devil in that epic is more impressive than that of God or Christ.
Hence Wike’s best fights are even among those who were with him. With them, like the clergy, he has broken bread. Name them: Rotimi Amaechi, Atiku Abubakar, Aminu Tambuwal, Umar Damagum, Bala Mohammed, Sim Fubara.
In a short story, The Lagoon, Joseph Conrad asserts that “there is no worse enemy and no better friend than a brother.” When politicians work together, they are like brothers, until money or ego poisons the honey.
Not that Wike has not squared off with persons on the other side of the street. He gave us a hint last week in his interview with Seun Okinbaloye on Channels Television, with reference to a top soldier and a police officer, one he called a killer and the other an assassin.
He does not fear libel nor restrain from name calling. He does not forswear his position, neither does he apologise for his tender parts.
When he sings, he throws barbs. It is Wike who would croon with visceral gusto about Tinubu’s mandate song in front of chief of staff Gbajabiamila. He is the only politician in memory whose impulse on a rostrum transformed into a hit song embraced as armoury to fight enemies, to win friends, to invoke God and devil simultaneously.
The vertebral bone of his last interview was his audacity. But it is not that he is not conscious that his foes have a voice. They do. Yet he spared no foe. He poked or choked, and he accused them with facts or the threat of facts. He can be caught in a contradiction, but Wike, to the best of my knowledge, has not been caught in a lie in public. That may be what scares his critics. His facts are offensive for being facts.
Politicians lie for a living. His first big fight was with his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi. He has said at least two things about him that Amaechi has not contradicted. He spoke about him and a deal while he- Amaechi – was governor.
He said that his predecessor garlanded him that “after God, it is Wike.” That is potent. He said it was a public declaration. Men should not be saying such things in public again. The last person to say so on record was Rauf Aregbesola about the president. See how it turned out. See how it has turned out for Amaechi unless he comes out and debunks it.
He called a certain police officer a killer, and repeated that noun for emphasis to a flustered interviewer. When you put Wike on stage, you get what you asked for.
He can boast as though he does not. When he said he made Iyorchia Ayu PDP chairman and ousted him, it did not come across as a boast, but as a confession. He did it, and what can anyone do about it, he seemed to say. Remember, he threw epithets at him, including “prodigal father.”
He did not spare Atiku or Tambuwal, and he said even if he lost the primary, he won the war: the presidential election. He took a swipe at former army chief Aliyu Gusau, and painted him as the shadowy hegemon who brokered the downfall of the PDP in the last election.
We forget that Wike was on the cusp of winning the PDP presidential primary. I recall I was in a dinner with a few top media men, and one of them asserted that Wike was going to win the primary. I predicted he would be derailed in the last minute. The man was too feared by the high and mighty in the party to hand him the fat of the PDP. It seemed far-fetched at that time. I did not know how it was going to happen, but I knew that Wike had done charity to so many in the party. But they didn’t have the love to repay. If Apostle Paul says charity “never faileth,” Wike’s was an exception for PDP.
The most important question in that Channels encounter was Wike’s poser, “Has anyone said I have betrayed him one day?” That is what I mean by the silence of his interlocutors. I am really waiting for anyone to say so, and if no one has anything to say, they should keep their peace.
At one of his first live interviews organized in his office as FCT minister, he said with a frown of agonised self-assurance: “I always win.”
He said it in the early days of his joust with Fubara. How does it look today? Who seems to have triumphed, at least for now? Maybe he has profited from treachery, that is a victim. Better to be betrayed and win than to betray and lose. That seems to be Wike’s charmed life so far.
Wike and Fubara’s story recalls the tension between President Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, his successor. It all ended in a gala night after years of recrimination. Taft walked up to his former mentor and gave him a hug. Claps and cheers drowned the venue.
It was a moment of proud humility. It is still to be known whether Wike and Fubara fought as enemies who are friends or as friends who are enemies. The coming months will show. But for now, it is Wike’s triumph, and the Channels interview was a sort of seal to that battle. For all his incandescent rhetoric, Wike deserves credit for not taking a victory lap.
Many who say he betrayed PDP by joining the Asiwaju government did not listen to him during the campaign. He made no bones about where he stood and for whom. He says he belongs to the PDP still, and that he is in the government for one reason only: Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Hence, he lashed out at the soldier. And when Okinbaloye pointed out that they are in the same government, he replied that he was there for Tinubu, and nothing else. His logic may not satisfy you, but that is fine with him so long as he is happy with himself.
For this essayist, the interview was serious theatre if, for some, he entertained to embarrass, or embarrassed to entertain. Whatever it was, this is not the last of Wike’s immortal outings.
The beat goes on.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has confirmed Ghanaian firm JonahCapital Nigeria Limited as the original owners of River Park Estate in Lugbe, Abuja.
Wike made the clarification during a live programme on Channels Television on Thursday, tracing the ownership dispute to an agreement signed between the FCT Administration and JonahCapital during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
JonahCapital, promoted by Sir Samuel Esson Jonah, was allocated Plot 4, Cadastral Zone E30 Lugbe, for the development of the estate.
According to the minister, the company later engaged Paulo Homes to facilitate building approvals from the FCT Development Control, a move he said was outside the terms of its agreement with the administration.
“A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, S.I. Ameh, wrote a petition, and I set up a ministerial panel headed by the General Counsel of the FCT. Their lawyers made presentations. The FCT has no agreement with Paulo Homes. The only agreement we signed was with JonahCapital,” Wike said.
He explained that while JonahCapital breached the terms of its lease by engaging Paulo Homes, its development lease has since expired. Wike said the administration decided to demolish structures put up by Paulo Homes and withdraw global Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) issued through the company, with a plan to reissue them directly to affected homeowners.
On recent enforcement actions at the estate, the minister said the move was to resolve ownership disputes and prevent irregularities in land administration.
Wike also criticized the activities of the Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Unit, led by CP Akin Fakorede, for holding a press briefing alongside former Force Public Relations Officer Muyiwa Adejobi, where ownership of the estate was attributed to Paulo Homes.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on Friday disclosed that he has approved the demands of resident doctors who embarked on strike over unpaid arrears.
Wike disclosed this during the launch of the construction of the Northern Parkway, spanning Ring Road II to Ring III along Shehu Yar’Adua Way, by Life Camp in Abuja.
Recall that the doctors have suspected the strike and are to resume on Monday by 8:00am.
Wike commended the doctors for calling off the strike in the interest of patients and the territory.
The minister confirmed that all files relating to the doctors’ demands had been signed and directed the FCT acting Head of Service, alongside his Senior Special Adviser (SSA) on Administration, Samuel Atang, to implement the approvals.
“I must commend the resident doctors for calling off the strike. The administration is happy with their understanding. I have signed all the doctors’ requests on my table today,” Wike said.
He lauded the doctors for putting the interest of patients and the FCT ahead of their grievances, describing the decision to resume work as a show of patriotism.
The resident doctors had, on September 15, embarked on a strike after months of unresolved negotiations with the FCTA, demanding payment of salary arrears ranging from one to six months owed to members employed since 2023.
Their demands also included the immediate recruitment of new staff, settlement of the 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund, and arrears from the 25–35 per cent upward review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS).
Other grievances covered the need for clear timelines to conclude skipping and conversion processes, correction of irregular salary payments, stoppage of erroneous deductions, payment of wage award arrears, 13 months’ hazard allowance arrears, and outstanding arrears owed to 2025 external residents.
On the road project, Wike said the Northern Parkway construction would ease traffic congestion, create jobs, and stimulate economic activities in the FCT.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on Friday disclosed that he has approved the demands of resident doctors who embarked on strike over unpaid arrears.
Wike disclosed this during the launch of the construction of the Northern Parkway, spanning Ring Road II to Ring III along Shehu Yar’Adua Way, by Life Camp in Abuja.
Recall that the doctors have suspected the strike and are to resume on Monday by 8: 00am.
Wike commended the doctors for calling off the strike in the interest of patients and the territory.
The minister confirmed that all files relating to the doctors’ demands had been signed and directed the FCT acting Head of Service, alongside his Senior Special Adviser (SSA) on Administration, Samuel Atang, to implement the approvals.
“I must commend the resident doctors for calling off the strike. The administration is happy with their understanding. I have signed all the doctors’ requests on my table today,” Wike said.
He lauded the doctors for putting the interest of patients and the FCT ahead of their grievances, describing the decision to resume work as a show of patriotism.
The resident doctors had, on September 15, embarked on a strike after months of unresolved negotiations with the FCTA, demanding payment of salary arrears ranging from one to six months owed to members employed since 2023.
Their demands also included the immediate recruitment of new staff, settlement of the 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund, and arrears from the 25–35 per cent upward review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS).
Other grievances covered the need for clear timelines to conclude skipping and conversion processes, correction of irregular salary payments, stoppage of erroneous deductions, payment of wage award arrears, 13 months’ hazard allowance arrears, and outstanding arrears owed to 2025 external residents.
On the road project, Wike said the Northern Parkway construction would ease traffic congestion, create jobs, and stimulate economic activities in the FCT.
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike, yesterday knocked one-time Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, describing them as “consistently inconsistent” politicians.
In a television chat monitored by this newspaper, the former Rivers State Governor accused the two political figures of betraying trust and jumping from one political party to another for personal ambition.
Tambuwal appeared on the same programme a few days ago where he thumbed-down Wike’s leadership while praising Atiku.
Reponsing yesterday, Wike said: “He (Tambuwal) said he trusts Atiku in terms of leadership, why not? These are people who have been consistently inconsistent. When you are inconsistent, what do you expect?
“Now, birds of the same feather flock together. There is no way Aminu will not go along with Atiku, knowing full well their antecedents,” he added.
Wike traced Atiku’s political journey over the past two decades, calling it a pattern of inconsistency.
“What does he (Tambuwal) know about leadership? Take for example, Atiku was in PDP in 1999, he became the vice president, he went to challenge his boss, people pleaded.
Later, the present President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, gave him (Atiku) ticket in AC (defunct Action Congress), but he left. Then he came back to PDP in 2011 for president, but he did not make it.
“He left for APC, where he ran against Buhari, he lost. Then he came back to the same PDP in 2019, he hit the ticket in 2022, we failed him,” Wike recounted.
When asked if he truly meant “we failed him,” Wike responded emphatically: “Yes, you have to fail people who are not consistent in life. Not that I am responsible, I played a role. I was the head person to ensure Atiku did not win and I am very much happy with that. Even now, I will do it again.
“Now, he has left again to ADC.”
Turning to Tambuwal, Wike dismissed his claims of loyalty and leadership credentials, listing his party switches as evidence of inconsistency.
“Who is Tambuwal? In 1999 he was Special Assistant to Senator Wali, he left and joined APP or AD or whatever it was called, he came back to PDP where he became a Speaker – we funded that position. He left PDP and went to APC in 2014, he left APC by 2017 to join PDP so that he would run for president, and now he is going to ADC. Look at the trajectory and look at Atiku.
“By contrast, Wike positioned himself as the model of loyalty and stability, saying: “Now, look at Nyesom Wike -from 1999 till now, he is in PDP.”
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike assured peace has returned to Rivers.
He said he spoke with Governor Sim Fubara, who is ready to return to Rivers State after the six-month emergency rule.
President Bola Tinubu suspended Fubara, his Deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu and the House of Assembly in March following a protracted political crisis between the Governor and his predecessor.
Fubara was not in the country when President Tinubu suspended the emergency rule on Wednesday.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television Politics Today monitored by our correspondent, Wike said: ““As I speak to you, as of yesterday, I spoke to the Governor (Fubara). I told him I was leaving that night to come back, and he told me he was leaving this morning,” Wike said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday.
“So, I can tell you that, by the grace of God, peace has returned. And look at what the Assembly did today to set the tone — you can see peace; you can see we are prepared, for the interest of the state. Let’s move forward”.