There are three problems that the All Progressive Congress government, since 2015, has promised to resolve, and everything in Nigeria seems to conspire against the President achieving greatness in each: the economy, insecurity, and corruption. People are so impoverished that when Bola Tinubu went to his home state to show off who he has become to his kinsmen on Lagos Island, they did not cheer their son returning with his shoulders laden with federal goods for himself and his cronies. Instead, they took a cynical look at his extended motorcade and coldly sneered at their condition, “Ebi n pa wa o!” While he sits at Aso Rock and his foot soldiers deliver his accomplishment figures on insecurity, bandits rip through their narrative with reports of their ransacking of communities. Strapped with various shades of illegal weapons, bandits openly constitute a parallel government where they negotiate peace with besieged communities and even offer people their inalienable rights. Since he cannot confidently talk about fighting corruption before his countrypeople, Tinubu takes the boast along on his foreign trips. He relays the illusion of progress to presidential counterparts who, having interacted with Nigeria long enough to recognise cow dung when they see it, look at him bemusedly.
In addition to every challenge that undermines his reputation as an efficient administrator, he now also has a Wike problem. Like the economy and insecurity, Wike is a problem that will just not let up and has, in fact, become an impasse. The Wike impasse is that juncture where we are confronted with multiple allegations of corruption by a public officer, as well as this infuriating realisation that none of our so-called democratic institutions has the moral backbone (nor will ever grow the necessary spine) to demand accountability. It is a familiar impasse, one that we have not only learned to live with but also developed a vocabulary and attitude to defend.
When it comes to making a president look gutless, no other cabinet officer in recent years has come close to the noisome FCT Minister Nyesom Wike. He is garrulous, brash, and entirely vulgar. He frequently constitutes himself into a nuisance and lacks a modicum of propriety. The way he regularly flits between TV stations, where indulgent media anchors interview him, to the times he addresses press conferences gives him away as an entirely unserious person. What manner of public official has the time to be cackling all over the place like this guy? Why is he spilling his guts like a witch in a deliverance church when he should be at his desk, diligently mapping an agenda for a more efficiently run FCT?
Apart from the issue of his personal conduct, there are corruption accusations levelled against him by various media outlets that have put him under intense scrutiny. This year, we have read some salacious accusations of Wike’s allocation of land in the FCT to his sons. According to The People’s Gazette, Wike allocated parcels of land, totalling as much as 1,740 hectares and 2,082 acres, to his sons, Jordan and Joaquin. After the report was published, Wike allegedly decided to rub it in our collective faces how much Tinubu’s presidential power was incapacitated from restraining him by going further to expand his list of illegal land beneficiaries.
He allegedly embarked on a land allocation spree, handing out parcels of land to friends and family in a manner that made former FCT Minister Nasir El-Rufai’s similar infraction appear tame in comparison. These egregious issues have been met with a tepid official response. The Presidency ordered a probe in June, but every Nigerian knows that that tactic is an official trick to put the matter in permanent abeyance. If they were interested in the truth, the first thing to do would be to suspend Wike from public office. But we are not a people given to doing things right.
Besides, Wike’s alleged infractions are not out of character with the ethos of Tinubu’s administration, which is populated by individuals who should either be in jail or facing a trial that would result in their incarceration. The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has a case with the EFCC, but it remains suspended as long as he continues to play the buffoon. It is such contradictions that made it quite laughable for Tinubu to think it remotely sensible to boast about his achievements in eradicating corruption while on a trip to Brazil. Even though his aides have tried to clarify that his claim was not meant to be universal and only referred to forex, it still does not make sense. How is it possible that a leader who cannot demonstrate the resolve to stand up to his own corrupt associates can straighten out the crookedness in an economic sector?
You cannot extricate the will to fight corruption in one area from the resolve to fight it in the intimate quarters. Anti-corruption cannot brook selectivity. The effort is either evidently principled, or you lose the ground to pretend about what you permit.
Wike, a trouble that refuses to stop, now faces a major scandal. This time, it turns out that he has several property worth millions of dollars in the USA. According to media reports, Wike allegedly acquired property in Florida, and to hide the assets, he allegedly registered them under his wife’s name, Justice Eberechi Wike, and children, Joaquin, Jazmyne, and Jordan.
Again, these are serious accusations that should not be taken lightly. It is noteworthy that he has not fought these claims. His wife’s being a judge is a separate scandal. In a serious country, she would have been suspended from the bench by now, and the judicial council would be reviewing her records closely. You cannot be in a position to hand out the sentences that will define lives while you reap the proceeds of the corruption that caused the social imbalance that drove people to crime. It is a confirmation of the extent to which our society is depraved that nobody has the guts to say anything to the judge with the dirtied hands.
Then, we are all aware of the role Wike played in his 2023 election and the feat he is expected to repeat in 2027. Tinubu is not going to sacrifice a valuable foot soldier like that. Not even after neutering a whole governor on Wike’s behalf. The only hope for accountability on this subject lies abroad. It is only the US government that can act to free us from the impasse. The Nigerian government is unwilling to be useful in this regard.
Then, we are all aware of the role Wike played in his 2023 election and the feat he is expected to repeat in 2027. Tinubu is not going to sacrifice a valuable foot soldier like that. Not even after neutering a whole governor on Wike’s behalf. The only hope for accountability on this subject lies abroad. It is only the US government that can act to free us from the impasse. The Nigerian government is unwilling to be useful in this regard.
