By Kingston Magare 11.11.2025
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike and a group of soldiers on Tuesday had a standoff over a piece of land in the Gaduwa area of Abuja.
Wike who had stepped on toes in his quest to exert more control on land acquisitions in the FCT had gone to verify the land documents, but the soldiers would not let him and his entourage into the premises where a building is under construction.
Wike, ruffled by the soldiers’ audacity to challenge his authority blew his tops and there was a shouting match. “You cannot carry a gun to intimidate anybody. I am not one of those that can be intimidated,” Wike told the soldier leading the group.
“I don’t understand how someone in such a position cannot follow proper channels instead of intimidating Nigerians.”
The soldiers refused to back down, insisting they were following instructions from a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Zubairu Gambo, and refused to leave the site.
“Shut up, keep quiet, you are a fool. As at the time I graduated, you were still in primary school,” Wike shot back at them.
“You send soldiers to intimidate who? We are all from this country. If not for the CDS who spoke to me now, you would have to kill everybody here.
“I’m not one of those that you can intimidate.”
Wike’s media aide Lere Olayinka explained on his Facebook page that Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, was building illegally on the plot of land.
“He stationed armed military men to protect the illegal development, with the military men threatening to shoot anyone who interfered with them.
“Today, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, visited the site after talking to the Chief of Defence Staff on the phone.”