Babatunji wusu –
Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has blamed politicians for raising the temperature in the wake of kidnapping events in the nation’s capital.
His comments were recorded on a video that Symfoni News eventually removed from its YouTube channel, but not before it was recorded and circulated.
Punch reported that Wike’s divisive remarks were revealed in the video, which was later taken off from the platform.
However, a portion of the since-deleted film emerged on the “X platform,” igniting discussions and arguments in both political and public arenas.
In the video, Wike charged that certain politicians were using the delicate subject of kidnappings in Abuja as a propaganda tool.
He asserted that rather than addressing the actual security issues the city faces, these political efforts are intended to incite needless anxiety and tension.
Wike said, “Some politicians are bent on making sure the government does not survive. And how do you do it? By creating unnecessary tension, carrying propaganda that something just happened here, they tell you it has happened 25 times. You must understand how our system works. They are those who are blackmailers, who are paid.”
While describing the politicians as paid blackmailers, Wike decried public outrage over kidnapping as unnecessary saying, “You cannot stop total crime. Let somebody tell me as a professional that there is anywhere in this world where there is no crime. Because kidnapping happened last night in one or two places, therefore, there is insecurity in the whole of FCT. That is not correct.”
He lamented that citizens do not complement government efforts and are ready to fault areas that have not been resolved.
The minister added, “When we came here, people say everything in Abuja has collapsed, no street light, no road. How many of you have even come out to commend us in these five months? All you do is pick one that has not been solved or that appears to be the problem. You forget the ones that the government has put effort which has yielded results.”
Wike declared last Wednesday that any kind of bandit attack in Abuja would not be tolerated by the Federal Government.
During a town hall meeting with the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, he made this statement.
In response to growing reports of kidnapping for ransom and murder in the Federal Capital Territory, he called the conference.
