By Omeiza Ajayi, Abuja
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has challenged the self-acclaimed Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), Adeniyi Adeyemi, to stop evading scrutiny and substantiate his allegations against the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, rather than go into hiding.
Speaking during a media chat monitored on Thursday in Abuja, Wike said those closest to the seat of power, particularly chiefs of staff, secretaries to the government and those in charge of finance, are often deliberately targeted by persons seeking to embarrass a sitting government.
He said if the allegations were genuine, Adeyemi should confront the chief of staff and the security agencies directly instead of disappearing. If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security. He cannot say this,” Wike said, adding that the chief of staff’s phone records and communications with Adeyemi were available for scrutiny.
Wike also gave an account of what he described as a separate blackmail attempt targeting his own family, in which he said unnamed persons falsely claimed his son had helped facilitate a payment involving government land, an allegation he said was fabricated and timed to embarrass him as FCT minister.
He said his chief security officer moved to have the accuser arrested after the claim surfaced and that the timeline given by the accuser did not match his son’s actual travel movements on the date in question.
Recounting an approach made to him to quietly resolve the matter, Wike said he rebuffed the suggestion outright. “Why not settle? Settle what? This is blackmail. I would not allow that. I wouldn’t do it,” he said.
He questioned why anyone should treat unproven claims against public officials as something to be managed rather than investigated while also dismissing claims that Adeyemi is in hiding for fear of his life. “Which life? Is your life bigger than the lives of other people in the country?” he asked, arguing that allegations of this nature should be probed to their conclusion rather than used as grounds to demand the removal of an official.
