The media team of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over what it described as a reckless remark directed at Seun Okinbaloye, demanding a public apology.
The controversy followed comments made by Wike during a media chat on Friday while reacting to remarks by Okinbaloye on Channels Television programme Politics Today, where the presenter discussed the leadership crisis within the African Democratic Congress and its implications for opposition politics ahead of the 2027 elections.
Okinbaloye had raised concerns about the possibility of a one-party state, a position Wike criticised as inappropriate for a journalist. Although the minister later clarified that he was not calling for physical harm, he maintained that the anchor’s comments crossed a line.
Reacting in a statement issued in Abuja, the Atiku Media Office, led by Paul Ibe, said the minister’s comment reflects a growing intolerance for dissent under the administration of Bola Tinubu.
The statement described the remark as unacceptable and dangerous, warning that such rhetoric from a serving public official threatens press freedom and undermines democratic values.
“For a serving minister of the Federal Republic to publicly declare on live television that he wished to shoot a journalist over a professional opinion is not just reckless. It is a chilling signal of how far this government has descended into intolerance, lawlessness, and abuse of power,” the statement said.
The media office stressed that the comment should not be dismissed as a joke, insisting it amounted to a direct threat against a journalist performing his duties. It added that such language from public officials sends a dangerous signal about the state of democracy in the country.
It further argued that the incident reflects a broader pattern in which criticism is increasingly met with hostility and intimidation.
Meanwhile, Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, said the minister never intended physical harm, describing the remark as hyperbolic.
According to him, Wike and Okinbaloye have since spoken by phone, and the journalist understood the minister’s position.
“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.
He added that the remark was made in reaction to what the minister perceived as the anchor stepping beyond his role as an interviewer into political commentary, urging the public to disregard attempts to politicise the issue.
