Olushola Omogbehin
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike has clarified comments he made about Channels Television’s anchor, Seun Okinbaloye.
The controversy was generated from the remarks by Wike where he said he would have “broken his TV screen and shot” Okinbaloye, on his comments that a one-party system would destroy democracy in Nigeria.
According to his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the minister, Lere Olayinka, on Saturday, the minister’s comments were strictly hyperbolic and intended to highlight professional grievances rather than physical intent.
“The minister never meant that he will shoot Seun Okinbaloye. They even spoke on phone today, and he understood what the minister meant,” Olayinka said.
Explaining further, he said the minister was primarily reacting to what he perceived as the anchor “descending into the political arena by speaking as an interested party, instead of an interviewer.”
According to Olayinka, “The statement made by the minister was in hyperbolic context, which was clearly without intent. It was primarily using exaggeration to make a point.”
Explaining further, Olayinka said even during the broadcast, the minister explicitly clarified that “he didn’t mean that he will carry gun and shoot the television anchor,” an explanation that reportedly prompted laughter from the interviewing panel at the time.
He therefore appealed to the public to discountenance the use of the comment as instrument of blackmail and propaganda.
He said because the minister’s words are being intentionally misrepresented for nothing but for political gain.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar has also described the minister’s language as a “disgraceful and dangerous threat.”
According to his Media Office, the rhetoric represents a “chilling signal” of increasing intolerance within the current administration.
“This was not a joke. It was not banter. It was a threat – clear, direct, and deeply sinister,” the Atiku Media Office stated, adding that “when those entrusted with authority begin to speak the language of violence against the press, democracy itself is under attack.
“Wike’s outburst is not an isolated slip. It is a symptom of a broader, more dangerous pattern… where dissent is criminalised, criticism is met with hostility, and intimidation has become the default language of governance.”
Atiku Media Office therefore demanded immediate and unconditional public apology from Nyesom Wike to Seun Okinbaloye and the entire Nigerian media community and the general public.
