By Israel Adebiyi

Power, in its rawest form, is a test of character. It exposes the nobility or the nakedness of a man’s soul. Few public figures in contemporary Nigeria embody this paradox more vividly than Nyesom Wike, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and former Governor of Rivers State. For years, Wike has walked the corridors of power like a man possessed by his own echo, thunderous, dramatic, and unrepentantly confrontational. The recent viral video of his verbal clash with a young military officer in Abuja did not surprise many. It was merely the latest episode in a long-running drama that reveals the flaws of a man whose tongue often runs faster than his wisdom.

In Yoruba parlance, there is a saying: “Eni tí ọ̀rọ̀ rẹ̀ ju òye rẹ̀ lọ, àìníyàn ló ń dá.” – “He whose words outrun his wisdom is courting disgrace.” Wike’s public life has been a theatre of that truth. From Port Harcourt to Abuja, his words have been both his power and his undoing.

As Governor of Rivers State, Wike ruled with the swagger of an emperor and the vocabulary of a street fighter. He earned the moniker “Mr. Projects,” and indeed, his tenure was dotted with visible infrastructural strides. But beneath the shine of concrete lay the shadows of fear and intimidation. He hounded political opponents, mocked rivals, and often reduced governance to the vulgar display of verbal warfare. To disagree with him was to invite a tongue-lashing; to stand up to him was to be publicly shamed. The Yoruba have another proverb for such temperament: “Bí ọba bá nà á ní kó má fò, àgbàlagbà ló ní kó má jókòó” (“When the king flogs you and says you must not cry, only elders tell you to sit down.”) Power without empathy, after all, is tyranny in democratic clothing.

Traditional rulers were not spared his tongue, nor were clerics whose sermons did not flatter his politics. The pulpit, the palace, and the public square all felt the sting of his verbal excesses. It was as though Wike mistook aggression for authority. And in a political culture that too often confuses loudness for leadership, he found applause where rebuke was deserved. Yet, “Bí a bá ń pè orí burúkú ní ‘adé,’ ó máa ń rò pé òun ló ń jẹ́ ọba” (“When a fool is constantly hailed as king, he soon forgets his folly.”)

When President Bola Tinubu appointed him as FCT Minister, many wondered how a man with such combustible temperament would manage a city as complex and delicate as Abuja. The capital, after all, is not a political playground but the seat of the nation’s dignity. But Wike carried his Rivers temperament into the heart of power. In less than a year, Abuja has witnessed more demolitions than decorum, more decrees than dialogue. At every turn, he has spoken more like a conqueror than a public servant.

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The recent altercation with a 24-year-old military officer, caught on video, offered a perfect metaphor for his style. The scene was classic Wike – loud, animated, confrontational – but what made it unforgettable was the quiet defiance of the young soldier who stood his ground. The officer’s composure, his disciplined refusal to be cowed by political bluster, was the moral turning point. For once, Wike’s verbal missiles bounced off the shield of institutional dignity. It was as if the spirits of Nigeria’s fatigued citizens found expression in that soldier’s calm defiance – a reminder that power must bow before order, not the other way around.

The Yoruba say, “Àgbà tó ń sọ̀rọ̀ bí ọmọ kékeré, ọmọ kékeré á gbọ́ pé àwọn yóò jọ ṣeré” (“When an elder speaks like a child, the young will mistake him for a playmate.”) Wike’s behavior in that viral clip stripped the office of its dignity. His lack of restraint not only disrespected the uniform but desecrated the values of leadership itself. The soldier’s uniform represents sacrifice; his silence, discipline; and his stance, institutional integrity. That a federal minister would exchange words so loosely with a young officer is not just an issue of temperament – it is a failure of self-governance.

Temperament, indeed, is the hidden face of leadership. A man’s true power is not in how loudly he commands but in how calmly he corrects. Wike’s monthly media engagements – once an opportunity to engage citizens and showcase accountability – soon degenerated into televised outbursts. He berated journalists, mocked political opponents, and turned governance into a stage for self-advertisement. It is said that the Presidency, weary of the embarrassment, quietly halted the briefings. One can only imagine the relief of aides who no longer had to brace themselves for the next verbal explosion.

In another Yoruba saying, “Ìbínú kò jẹ́ kí ọba jẹ́ aláàánú” (“Anger does not allow a king to be merciful.”) Wike’s anger, too easily provoked and too publicly displayed, has long clouded his judgment. Yet the essence of power is not in the fear it inspires but in the respect it earns. The greatest leaders in history were not those who shouted the loudest but those who led with quiet conviction. The soft-spoken often outlast the loud-mouthed because, as the Yoruba remind us, “Oro buruku to bá jé títí, adùn ni yóò dá” (“Even bitter words, if spoken with patience, will end sweetly.”)

The Abuja episode also calls attention to the need for institutional supremacy over personal might. Nigeria’s enduring tragedy is that men often see themselves as greater than the offices they occupy. We build strong individuals but weak systems, and when those individuals fall, the institutions crumble with them. But as Yoruba wisdom teaches, “A kì í jẹ́ kí òpó ọmọ ènìyàn dàgbà ju àgọ́ lọ” (“We do not allow the child of a person to grow taller than the camp.”) No one, however powerful, should be above the rules of engagement.

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This is why the conduct of that young soldier deserves commendation. In choosing duty over deference, he reminded us that respect for the uniform is non-negotiable. Every insignia on that khaki represents years of sacrifice, discipline, and loyalty to the nation. To belittle it, no matter one’s rank, is to insult the Republic itself. The Yoruba have a proverb that aptly fits this: “Àṣọ àgbà ni ìyàwó ń wọ, kó mọ̀ pé a kì í rí tìkára ẹni tí ó tójú” (“A bride wearing her mother’s cloth must remember she didn’t weave it herself.”) The power Wike wields is not personal; it is borrowed authority. To wear the garment of public office with arrogance is to forget that the garment belongs to the people.

Equally troubling is the recurring use of armed might to pursue private or political objectives, from land enforcement to silencing dissent. When the coercive instruments of state become tools in the hands of temperamental men, democracy trembles. The military, police, and paramilitary institutions must never be drawn into the theatrics of power or personal vendettas. “Ogun tí a bá dá lórí èké, òtítọ́ ni yóò ṣẹgun” (“The war waged on falsehood will always be won by truth.”)

Nigeria must now return to the discipline of process. When institutions are respected, the law becomes sacred. When personalities dominate, the state becomes an extension of ego. Wike’s episode should not be dismissed as mere drama; it is a symptom of a larger sickness – the collapse of restraint among those entrusted with authority. The lesson is simple: when powerful men act without decorum, they shrink the dignity of governance and weaken the faith of citizens in democracy itself.

One hopes that Wike, if only for a moment, reflects on this encounter. True power is not in shouting down a soldier; it is in mastering one’s temper. Leadership demands silence as much as speech, grace as much as grit. “Bí ọba bá ń sunkún, àwòko kì í rẹ́rìn-ín” (“When a king weeps, the parrot does not laugh.”) There are moments when restraint is the greatest show of strength.

In the end, that young officer did more than defend a piece of land; he defended the idea that Nigeria must be governed by institutions, not personalities. He reminded the nation that authority must be exercised with humility, not hubris. The Yoruba have the final word: “Àgbà tó bá ní kó fi ọwọ́ kan ọ̀run, ẹni tí ń dí ọwọ́ rẹ̀ ni yóò bínú” (“When an elder tries to touch the sky, it is those holding his hand that will feel the strain.”) Wike’s latest outburst strained not only his image but the very institution he represents.

Perhaps it is time the minister learned that power is most dignified when it is quiet, and that the loudest drum often bursts first. For in the theatre of governance, words are not weapons; they are mirrors. And when the man in power looks into that mirror and sees only himself, he has already lost the people.

By Suyi Ayodele

They gave us civilisation and then said our forebears were wrong in speaking truth to power. A child of God, they reasoned, should pray “for kings and those in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty (1Timothy 2:2). We accepted the strange doctrines, and our leaders grew wings and became our tormentors.

While our forebears challenged kings and whipped them back to line, the new ‘civilisation’ asked us to raise our hands “first of all, (in) supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks…” (1 Timothy 2:1). By the time we opened our eyes, those whom our forebears used to command to go join their ancestors for bad rulership had become our masters. Through their bad leadership, they send us to early graves. Sadly, the modern-day spiritual fathers and mothers-in-Israel drowned our cries in ‘signs and ‘wonders’ that have neither been significant nor wonderful!

I may soon be ordained a pastor. Read that again and believe me. The time is close. Why? My Father-in-the-Lord, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), is doing what the church is called to do at critical moments.

I am happy with Daddy G.O.’s message at the November Holy Ghost Service held last Friday. Now, we can boldly say that the Church is alive to its responsibility. I am faintly proud to be a member of the RCCG in recent times.

Before those who claimed to have given us ‘civilisation’ came, men and women who occupied high spiritual positions were a check on the African indigenous thrones. The Yoruba traditional administrative setting that I am familiar with places a premium on religion and religious leaders.

Ifa priests and our mothers played important roles in bringing orderliness to the society. Kings in those good old days would not do anything without the input of the knowledgeable. Our mothers, the very owners of the night, then, had a way of getting the thrones to act appropriately.

But when modernity came, they tagged our nocturnal esoteric gatherings as ‘coven’. Then they went ahead and replaced the ‘coven’ meetings with vigils, forgetting that covens and vigils are businesses of the night! They told us to stop chanting esoteric words and ‘impacted’ us with the Holy Spirit. They asked us to speak in tongues and do away with ayajo (evocation); two coded languages that are not easily sussed! They took away our gbere (incision) and gave us anointing oil. We accepted.

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Africa’s fortune dipped because we suddenly became complacent. Nigeria, for instance, has suffered great misfortunes over the last three decades because we relied more on the dictates from the pulpits rather than taking our destiny in our own hands. Those we elected turned around to become our taskmasters, using the very resources they stole from us to buy our consciences. In all this, the Church universal – indeed, the strange religions imported from the West and the East – became accomplices.

Save for the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, which, to a large extent, has shown that the prophets of old were not power pleasers, the Nigerian cassock club has been partners-in-crime with the lethargic leadership that has been the bane of development in Nigeria. Clerics of the two dominant religions (Christianity and Islam) turned a blind eye when the Nigerian political class began this journey to the bottomless pit. Many of them found it difficult to distinguish between the pulpits and the campaign podiums. The compromise from the religious leaders is so much that nowadays, most crusades, homilies, messages and recitation sessions have become political campaign rallies!

Our leaders, the locusts, became emboldened because they know that the faithful-in-the-Lord have gotten their share of the national cake. We cannot forget easily how religious leaders, having attracted huge part of our patrimony to their faiths’ coffers, declared their support for the then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for the 2015 general election.

Or should we talk about the college of Bishops that endorsed the candidacy of the incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2023, wearing their funny cassocks as they filed to collect their alawee? For the eight ruinous years of General Mohammadu Buhari, who among us can recall a whimper from any of our Pentecostal pastors or Islamic clerics?

This is why the latest message of Daddy G.O. during the November 2025 Holy Ghost Service of the RCCG became instructive. I did not watch Pastor Adeboye preach at the service. But I have read the transcript of his message at the service. It is worthy of commendation, not because I am a member of the RCCG family, but because it appears that the Church, under the leadership of Daddy G.O., appears to be waking up from its pretentious slumber! We may well be returning to those epochs when the prophets of old spoke truth to power at the risk of their lives.

In his message that night, the preacher said: “This is not the time to joke. This is not the time for grammar, not time to argue, is it suicide or kidnapping? This is not the time to say it’s not Christians alone; Muslims are also involved. Innocent people are dying.” I read him over again to be sure that Daddy G.O. actually uttered those words. They are wonderful words no matter how late they are coming. The time a man wakes up is his morning, so, they say. If it has taken the threat from President Donald Trump of America to get our religious leaders to speak, so be it.

The most important thing now is that the pulpit is talking when it should. Pastor Adeboye said that when he heard President Tinubu beat his chest on October 1, 2025, that he had defeated insurgency, he knew that the President is surrounded by those who don’t like him. He added that hours after Tinubu declared Nigeria free of insecurity, “…The following day, we read that a traditional ruler was killed in Kwara or Kogi.” Then the clincher: “Somebody wrote it (the speech), but it was the President who read it.” What the clergy man did not say is that though, “There are several people around Tinubu who are not telling him the truth”, the president should be blamed for the choices he made in his aides. Daddy G.O. is right!

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This is how men of God should speak during a crisis. The cassock must not be part of the President’s clappers’ club. Enough of diplomacy, enough of prevarication. Our leaders are surrounded by sycophants who would rather marinate the truth in a sauce of lies just to please the President. If not, there is no way Tinubu would have declared as Adeboye quoted that “displaced people have returned to their villages.” Thank the gracious God that Daddy G.O. did not quip, as an average Ijesha man would have done, kà íbi e rè (where was that)?

He went ahead to call on President Tinubu to be decisive on the steps to take to arrest the situation. Adeboye asked Tinubu not to be like his predecessor, Buhari, who shouted the order at his own parade but went back to sleep without ensuring that the colour party obeyed him.

This time around, the RCCG big shot said that the President must give the directives to his services chiefs, follow them up, set time limit for them “not only to eliminate the terrorists but also eliminate the sponsors, no matter how influential they may be” and fire the services chiefs if there were no results after the time frame! Wonderful counsel!

It appears the fear of Trump is the beginning of wisdom for us. In the last two weeks that the American President issued the threat of an invasion, our armed forces appeared to have gotten their mojo back. Bandits and other criminal elements, they told us, were being killed in their scores. That is the type of response we want from the Commander-in-Chief. Ragtag soldiers should not be making meals of our trained and sophisticated soldiers.

What Pastor Adeboye said on Friday is what other leaders of other faiths and sects should do. Nigeria must first be safe and peaceful for any meaningful crusade to take place. There is no point asking people to surrender to Jesus or be converted to Islam when there is no guarantee that the converts will live to see the light of the following days because bandits, kidnappers and other bad elements wait in the corner to waste them! No matter how beautiful heaven and Aljannah are, we should be allowed to live and enjoy the good things of life before we go to meet our makers. After all, “all things bright and beautiful, the Lord God made them all”, the choir sing!

The time to rescue Nigeria is now. This is the message the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN) should imbibe rather than its recent voyage of discovery of who sent legal brief to the United Nations on the genocide of Christians.

It is bad for the SCSN, which urged “all Nigerians, Muslims and Christians alike, to reject narratives that seek to pit one faith against another”, asserting that the nation’s “common enemies are injustice, corruption, poverty, and insecurity”, to now look for a scapegoat to sacrifice for the activities of some bad elements in its midst.

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The SCSN, rather than asking for the head of Professor Joshua Ojo Amupitan, the newly appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on the platter because of his 2020 brief, should look for the Sheik Ahmad Gumis in its camp and caution them. The havoc the likes of Sheik Ahmad Gumi have wrecked in Nigeria through flippancy and intemperate utterances, can sink the peace which the SCSN seeks. Elements like Gumi are the reason why we have so much mistrust among the followers of the differing faiths!

It, therefore, baffles every rational mind that amid the present crisis, the SCSN would still drape its ‘genuine’ clamour for peace and religious harmony in Nigeria with the flag of politics! The religious body, like its Christian counterparts, should separate the hijab from the politicians’ babariga. Asking for the removal of Amupitan as INEC Chairman on account of the 2020 paper speaks volumes. It sounds like making a mountain out of a molehill while ignoring the more important matter of genocide which has become the concern of the Trump administration.

Nigeria is in a grave moment. Every man and woman of good conscience must be involved in the rescue mission. The nation’s traditional institution must lend its voice. Many of them have been victims of the malady, and many more will become so unless the drift is halted. The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, hinted at this a few days ago when he cautioned that “…terrorists don’t know the difference between Muslims and Christians. They see everybody as a prey, while they are the predator.”

Oba Ladoja, who received the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Francis Wale Oke, at the Olubadan Palace, over the weekend, said that the period the nation is now in is the time for Nigerians to come together to fight terrorism and appease those who had fallen victim of the crisis.

According to the Ibadan king, “Many people have been killed and property worth an inestimable amount of money destroyed. Multitudes of families, particularly women and children, have been displaced. Kidnappings have taken place. Successive administrations have spent trillions to fight insecurity. When you look at this scenario over the past ten years, people are bound to feel aggrieved and resort to self-help.” He therefore recommended the prototype of the harmonious relationship that exists between the two major religions in the South-west to other parts of the country.

President Tinubu is lucky that in the face of the threat from President Trump, Nigerians of worth are offering him pieces of advice that could help him to navigate the current situation unscathed. I commend Oba Ladoja’s royal stance to other monarchs in the country. Rather than strutting the red carpets on the fashion runways, our monarchs should sit back and think of how they can add value and help solve the current national debacle.

From the Sultan of Sokoto to the Obi of Onitsha; from the Oba of Benin to the Agadagba of Arogbo Izon, our palaces should take a break from the narratives of those destined to be president and those not so fortunate to devote time to tangibles that will bring lasting peace to the nation.

The Church must not rest; the Mosque must not drop the megaphone. President Tinubu himself must walk the talk. It is not enough for us to consider Trump’s threat as an insult. Nigeria, particularly the President, must demonstrate that he indeed understands that the job he applied for is not hard as bricklaying, but one that requires him to think outside the box, harnessing geniuses around him to achieve lasting peace in the country.

Lastly, President Tinubu must not cower to the dictates of the sponsors of this evil just so he could extend his presidency beyond 2027. The realisation of that ambition is not worth the life of even a single Nigerian. The entire nation is, by now, tired of viewing gory videos of mindless killings all over the social media. We are tired of hearing muffled cries of widows and fatherless children whose benefactors have been incinerated in their own homes! We have had enough of reports of neonates and toddlers who are dispatched in cold blood back to their Maker alongside their helpless parents! Enough is enough!

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) has released its findings on the just concluded Anambra State Governorship Election, calling for strict enforcement of laws that will reduce the “widespread vote buying in our elections.”

Situation Room, in a post-election statement released on Monday, and made available to INFO DAILY, also called on the National Assembly to quickly accelerate pending legislative actions for electoral reforms designed to enhance political participation, improve election management, and effectively address the prosecution of electoral offenses.

The post-election statement was signed by Yunusa Z. Ya’u, Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room; Mimidoo Achakpa, Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, and Franklin Oloniju, Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room.

Situation Room, while adjudging the
2025 Anambra State Governorship election as “largely peaceful,” lamented that it was “marred by what may be attributed to lingering public distrust in public institutions and governance.”

“Many citizens still seemed uninterested in the process and were seen carrying on with their trading in the markets,” Situation Room said.

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The election monitoring CSO, while decrying the low turnout of voters across the state, which it estimated at about 21% of PVCs collected which stood at 2,769,137, said it was, however, “an improvement from the 10% that was recorded in the 2021 Governorship Election.”

“This still calls for deeper reflection on how we can overcome voter apathy and disillusionment with the political process. Situation Room commends Civil Society Organisations for their voter education and mobilization efforts in rural communities ahead of the election particularly its partner, Social and Integral Development Centre (SIDEC) that carried out its sensitization activities in fifteen major markets and in the media,” the organisation said in the statement.

Situation Room, however, expressed worry that “our elections are continually being driven by motivations and actions that are strongly diametrically opposed to the ideals of democracy as a socio-economic political phenomenon that has its origin and destination in the service of the people.”

“Increasingly, the dominant trait of the political class and elites in our country seems to be bordering on a Machiavellian understanding of the end ‘justifies the means’: a dangerous political philosophy that relegates the ideals and fine points of democracy as people-driven to the background. Situation Room insists that the guardrails that help define the democratic experience must not be subverted by the political elites.

“In this regard, Situation Room notes that the ugly phenomenon of vote buying and vote selling, occasioned by the pauperization of the citizens have continued to thrive, and was in full swing during the 2025 Anambra State Governorship election.

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“Situation Room believes that if there is one social dynamic that clearly signals the failure of the political class to relatively deliver on the benefits of democracy, it is the unfortunate and continuous occurrence of vote selling by citizens who are yet to truly connect their living conditions to the activities of those to whom they sell their votes.”

The CSO, while lauding
INEC for a well “managed of its core processes effectively throughout the election,” also commended the election umpire particularly dor the “quick and drama-free results collation process, which was devoid of the irregularities typically associated with INEC’s vote tabulation and score recording at Collation Centres.”

“If this continues in future elections, then it will be a positive and encouraging development in electoral management.”

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Situation Room stated that “credible elections remain central to democratic governance and public accountability,” adding: “lessons from the 2025 Anambra State Governorship Election must inform deeper reforms and stronger collaboration among INEC, security agencies, political actors, and civil society to safeguard Nigeria’s democracy.

“These lessons must be applied to the upcoming Area Council Elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as well as the Ekiti and Osun States Governorship Elections – all to be conducted in 2026.

“There is also a need to take forward conversations on the credibility of the voter’s register, welfare of security agencies and voter apathy in Nigeria’s elections as we head towards the 2027 General elections.”