The Abuja altercation between the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and a Naval officer acting under the orders of a retired Naval General is emblematic of Nigeria’s growing institutional paralysis. It exposes the erosion of administrative coordination, the misuse of military assets for private interests, and the alarming substitution of lawful governance with personal discretion. This paper examines the constitutional, ethical, and security implications of the incident and calls for an independent public inquest to restore the sanctity of civil authority, the rule of law, and public trust in governance.
Nigeria’s democracy stands on the foundation of institutions, not the whims of powerful individuals. The recent altercation in Abuja between the FCT Minister and a Naval officer is a disturbing sign that this foundation is weakening. It revealed a state where ego, impunity, and lawlessness now overshadow institutional discipline and constitutional order.
The FCT Minister, representing the President in the administration of the Federal Capital Territory, engaged in a public confrontation with a uniformed officer—an act unbecoming of the civility expected of public officials. Yet, equally reprehensible is the conduct of the retired Naval General, who allegedly deployed serving military personnel to guard his private property without clearance from the civilian authority of the FCT or the Defence Headquarters.
Such parallel command undermines Nigeria’s constitutional order and reflects the dangerous rise of private militarization among the elite. Both acts—ministerial incivility and military insubordination—are symptoms of a deeper national problem: the decay of institutional governance.
Several constitutional provisions and statutes have direct bearing on this incident:
Section 1(1) & (3) — The Constitution is supreme; any act inconsistent with it is null and void.
Section 14(2)(b) — The primary purpose of government is the security and welfare of the people, not the protection of private privilege.
Sections 217 & 218 — The Armed Forces shall be equipped and maintained to defend Nigeria and carry out lawful duties assigned by the President. Private use of military personnel is unconstitutional and dishonorable.
Section 5(1) — Executive powers are vested in the President and exercised through lawful organs, including the FCT Minister, whose authority over land administration within the FCT is legitimate and exclusive under the FCT Act (Cap 128 LFN 2004).
Land Use Act (1978) — All lands in the FCT are held in trust by the President and administered by the FCT Minister. Any claim to land or property within the FCT must derive from proper approval through established statutory processes.
Section 214 — The Nigeria Police Force is the institution constitutionally empowered to maintain law and order and protect property. The use of military personnel for private security is illegal and constitutes an affront to the Nigerian Police Service and to civil authority.
The incident reveals multiple layers of misconduct:
(a) Abuse of Military Structure
The retired Naval General’s act of engaging serving officers to secure private property is ultra vires, dishonorable, and incompatible with the ethics of military discipline. The military is a public institution of defense, not a private security agency for the affluent.
This conduct violates the spirit of Sections 217–218 of the Constitution, which restricts the deployment of the Armed Forces to duties sanctioned by lawful civilian authority. It also represents an affront to the chain of command and the supremacy of civil authority—an indispensable pillar of democratic governance.
(b) Breakdown of Administrative Coordination.
The lack of communication between the FCT Administration and the Nigerian Navy demonstrates institutional fragmentation. Both entities operate under the same sovereign authority, yet their disjointed actions exposed Nigeria’s fragile administrative synergy. A well-structured government should not require confrontation to resolve a property dispute.
(c) Ministerial Conduct and Public Decorum.
The FCT Minister’s resort to verbal aggression and public confrontation is equally condemnable. As the chief representative of the President within the FCT, the Minister carries the duty of maintaining decorum, respect for law enforcement, and institutional example.
His uncouth language toward a uniformed officer serving under federal command is unstatesmanlike and capable of igniting unnecessary civil-military tension. Public office demands restraint, humility, and respect, not dominance through humiliation.
This confrontation is not an isolated event but a reflection of Nigeria’s declining governance standards. It underscores:
The absence of a coherent inter-agency communication framework;
The personalization of state authority;
The misuse of the military for private protection;
The public erosion of faith in institutional legitimacy.
Such occurrences weaken national cohesion, trivialize civil authority, and embolden the culture of impunity.
To prevent the normalization of lawlessness among high-ranking officials, an independent public inquest should be instituted.
Objectives of the Inquest:
Establish the factual circumstances surrounding the Abuja altercation.
Determine whether the retired Naval General unlawfully engaged serving officers for private security.
Assess the legality of actions taken by both the FCT Administration and the Nigerian Navy.
Recommend sanctions and reforms to prevent future inter-agency confrontations.
Composition of the Inquest:
A retired Justice of the Court of Appeal (Chair), a senior retired military legal officer, a constitutional law scholar, an FCTA representative, and two civil society observers.
Timeline and Transparency:
Preliminary report: within 21 days.
Final report: within 90 days.
Publication: findings should be made public to uphold transparency and deter future abuse.
Prohibit Private Military Deployment: Enforce sanctions against any retired officer who uses active-duty personnel for private purposes.
Strengthen Civil-Military Oversight: Establish clear channels for military engagement in civil jurisdictions, subject to written authorization from the Presidency or National Security Council.
Institutional Discipline and Ethics Training: Mandatory leadership and ethics workshops for ministers and senior officials to instill decorum and respect for inter-agency harmony.
Digitization of Land Administration: Create a transparent, publicly accessible registry of land allocations in the FCT to curb fraudulent ownership claims.
Empower the Police: Reinforce the Nigeria Police Force as the legitimate protector of private property, reducing reliance on military power for civil functions.
The Abuja confrontation stands as a metaphor for Nigeria’s lost institutions — where power overshadows law and personalities overwhelm procedure. Both the FCT Minister’s public outburst and the retired Naval General’s unlawful use of military personnel constitute grave threats to democratic order.
The General’s actions are ultra vires, dishonorable, and a direct affront to the vested authority of the FCT Minister and to the constitutional supremacy of civil governance. Similarly, the Minister must be cautioned that his confrontational and intemperate language undermines the dignity of his office and could inflame unnecessary conflict within the federation’s security apparatus.
Nigeria must now confront this moment with courage and wisdom. We must restore respect for institutions over individuals, law over emotion, and discipline over arrogance.
The time has come for a public reckoning — not to shame personalities, but to rebuild the broken pillars of governance and national cohesion.
Only through transparency, accountability, and renewed institutional discipline can Nigeria return to the path of credible and lawful governance.
