Human rights advocate Femi Falana has urged President Bola Tinubu to direct the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to apologise for using insulting language toward a naval officer during a dispute over a plot of land in Abuja.
Falana made the appeal on Thursday at the opening of the Legal Year of the University of Abuja’s Faculty of Law, hosted by the school’s Law Students Association. He said the confrontation between Wike and Naval Officer A. M. Yerima was an example of both sides stepping outside the boundaries of the law.
Falana argued that no public official is permitted to address any citizen in abusive terms. He said the President should insist on an apology and added that Wike was fortunate the situation did not escalate further.
“On no ground should a Minister insult or abuse a citizen. No Minister has the power to call any Nigerian a fool. Mr. President should compel the Minister to apologize. He was lucky he was not shot,” Falana said.
Although he acknowledged that Wike was acting within his legal powers under Section 11 of the Land Use Act, Falana faulted the manner in which the minister handled the situation. He urged public office holders to act with restraint and civility, pointing to a similar incident in Ghana where a minister was ordered to apologise for disrespectful comments made to a citizen.
“The officer violated the law by guarding private property while claiming to act on superior orders. Those orders were unlawful. But the Minister also went off track. Even the President cannot call any Nigerian a fool.”
He also criticised the naval officer for obstructing the minister’s lawful activities, saying the officer had no authority to guard private property under the guise of following superior orders. He praised the officer for remaining calm despite the verbal exchange.
Falana used the occasion to comment on the Federal Government’s reported move to allow former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu serve the remainder of his UK sentence in Nigeria after his conviction for organ trafficking. He questioned why the government appeared concerned about Ekweremadu but not the more than 200 Nigerians currently in British prisons.
He said he intends to challenge the proposed prisoner transfer arrangement, arguing that it raises serious questions since no British national is serving a sentence in Nigeria.
