{"id":78574,"date":"2025-11-12T09:23:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T09:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=78574"},"modified":"2025-11-12T09:23:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T09:23:30","slug":"sowore-others-react-to-wikes-clash-with-naval-officer-over-abuja-land-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/11\/12\/sowore-others-react-to-wikes-clash-with-naval-officer-over-abuja-land-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Sowore, Others React to Wike\u2019s Clash with Naval Officer Over Abuja Land Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Onilede Titi Faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Human rights activist and 2023 AAC presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has condemned the recent confrontation between the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and a naval officer over a disputed parcel of land in Abuja.<\/p>\n

The viral incident, which occurred on Tuesday, showed Wike in a heated exchange with a naval officer allegedly guarding a property linked to former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo (retd.).<\/p>\n

In the footage, Wike accused the officer of unlawfully occupying government land, insisting that no one, regardless of rank, is above the law.<\/p>\n

Reacting on X (formerly Twitter), Sowore faulted the military\u2019s involvement, calling it \u201ca reflection of misplaced priorities\u201d and evidence of \u201cpervasive self-interest among public officials.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe military should defend Nigeria\u2019s borders, not secure land for a retired officer,\u201d he wrote, adding that Wike himself was \u201cno exception\u201d to political impunity.<\/p>\n

He also recalled a similar episode during Wike\u2019s tenure as Rivers governor, alleging that he once obstructed EFCC officers from arresting a corrupt judge.<\/p>\n

The altercation has sparked mixed reactions online. Political commentator Zara Onyinye criticised those calling for Wike\u2019s apology, especially former Minister of Aviation Osita Chidoka, who urged him to respect the military.<\/p>\n

In a Facebook post, Onyinye said, \u201cIn a democracy, civilian authority is supreme. The FCT Minister is the President\u2019s appointee, and the military is answerable to him.\u201d She accused critics of politicising the issue, claiming that \u201canything against Wike is considered right.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of press time, the Nigerian Navy had not issued an official statement. Navy spokesman A. Adams-Aliyu, when contacted, said there was \u201cno reply for now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Onilede Titi Faith Human rights activist and 2023 AAC presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has condemned the recent confrontation between the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and a naval officer over a disputed parcel of land in Abuja. The viral incident, which occurred on Tuesday, showed Wike in a heated exchange […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":78575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78576,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78574\/revisions\/78576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}