In the swirling vortex of Nigerian politics, where alliances are as fleeting as harmattan dust and betrayals bloom like wild orchids, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu finds himself saddled with a particularly cumbersome load: Nyesom Wike.
The former Rivers State governor, now Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, was once the APC’s prodigal son—a fiery defector from the PDP who delivered Rivers State’s votes in 2023 through a cocktail of intimidation, patronage, and sheer audacity.
But as November 2025 unfolds, with Wike’s latest escapades painting him as a loose cannon, the question gnaws: How much longer can Tinubu afford to carry this baggage? With Rivers State now firmly in his palm—thanks to a tamed Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the PDP’s self-inflicted wounds—it’s high time for a bold purge.
Sack Wike, as the PDP just did in a fit of belated housekeeping.Heaven won’t fall; it might even clear up.
Let’s count the luggages, shall we?
First, the sheer weight of Wike’s rascalities has Tinubu’s administration stumbling under corruption’s shadow.
Barely two years into his tenure, Wike’s FCT portfolio reeks of excess: land grabs disguised as development, opaque allocations that scream favoritism, and a budget bloated beyond reason after Tinubu yanked the FCT from the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
Civil society outfits aren’t mincing words, urging replacement with a cleaner hand like Tein Jack-Rich, an APC loyalist from aRivers, to stem the tide of sleaze.
Wike’s not just a minister; he’s a magnet for scandals that tarnish Tinubu’s reformist sheen.
Retaining him isn’t loyalty—it’s liability, a thorn festering in the side of a government already battered by economic headwinds.
But the real kicker? Wike’s thumb in the eye of the military, Nigeria’s unyielding backbone.
Just days ago, in a viral meltdown over disputed Gaduwa land, Wike didn’t just clash with Lieutenant A.M. Yerima—he publicly branded the naval officer a “fool” and harassed him like a market bully.
The fallout? A chorus of retired brass hats, under the Coalition of Concerned Military Veterans, baying for his head. “Remove or redeploy him,” they thunder, warning that Wike’s antics downgrade the Armed Forces’ honor and could erode the goodwill Tinubu desperately needs from veterans and active personnel.
These aren’t fringe voices; they’re ex-service chiefs and coalitions representing thousands who’ve bled for this republic.
Tinubu, who rode to power partly on security promises, can’t ignore this.
The military’s loyalty isn’t infinite—alienate it, and you invite whispers of instability, especially with Plateau’s fresh intercommunal flares testing his peace envoy’s mettle.
Wike’s defenders—those Atiku-era holdouts and northern entitlement peddlers—huff that sacking him cedes Rivers to the opposition. Nonsense!.
Tinubu’s grip on Rivers is ironclad now. Fubara, once Wike’s puppet, has boycotted the PDP convention alongside Wike’s rivals, signaling a realignment toward Abuja’s orbit.
The PDP’s expulsion of Wike isn’t theater; it’s a death knell, rejected by a few governors like Adamawa’s Fintiri but embraced by the party’s vengeful core.
With emergency rule suits dismissed in Rivers courts and Fubara’s loyalty secured, Tinubu holds the state like a clenched fist.
Wike’s utility? Expired.
He’s not delivering votes anymore; he’s delivering headaches, from Fayose’s birthday bashes to G-5 infighting that exposes PDP fractures he helped widen.
Echoes of PDP’s past ring loud here.
When Wike’s G-5 cabal sabotaged Atiku in 2023, the party didn’t flinch—it expelled him this week, stripping his cover and forcing him to dance naked in APC’s courtyard.
Tinubu should take the cue. PDP’s purge wasn’t weakness; it was survival.
Retaining Wike now, as Sowunmi quips, is Tinubu’s “Wike problem” metastasizing into a full-blown crisis.
The man has overstayed: his bombast, once a asset against IPOB agitators and Obidient fervor, now reeks of desperation.
Even Tinubu’s intervention—ordering Wike off the military’s land—feels like a Band-Aid on a gangrenous limb.
Show Wike the door, Mr. President. Redeploy him to some ceremonial post if conscience demands, but boot him from FCT.
The veterans’ ultimatum looms: Occupy the ministry if ignored.
Northern bigots, southern virtue-signalers, and even Yoruba realists decry his overreach, but the math is simple—lose the military’s trust, and 2027 crumbles faster than Wike’s PDP bridges.
Tinubu built his brand on calculated risks; this is one he can’t afford to miscalculate. Sack him.
The republic endures; the baggage lightens. And in Nigeria’s arena, that’s the bold step that wins the day.
Pamela O. writes from Lagos.
