by Prof. Mondy Gold
The recent remarks made by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, as reported by Seun Opejobi in the Daily Post of August 4, 2025, transcend the bounds of political disagreement and descend into the perilous terrain of national provocation. What was presented under the guise of commentary is, in truth, a deliberate affront to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President and enduring statesman whose contributions to Nigeria’s democratic journey remain indelible. These are not the harmless musings of a maverick but incendiary declarations that undermine the dignity of public discourse and dangerously erode the fragile threads that bind our plural nation. That such vitriol emanates from a serving minister is not merely unbecoming, it signals a deeper crisis of leadership ethos and portends troubling implications for Nigeria’s democratic stability.
When Wike arrogantly mocked the political evolution of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, reducing decades of public service and democratic engagement to mere “jumps” between parties, he displayed either a willful ignorance or a dangerous disregard for the fluid, adaptive, and often sacrificial path of those who have labored to build the institutions of our democracy, many times outside of their comfort zones and in the face of tyranny.
Wike, by contrast, represents the crude face of political thuggery masquerading as governance. This is a man who, having turned Rivers State into his personal fiefdom during his gubernatorial tenure, now weaponizes his ministerial portfolio to insult, denigrate, and destabilize. His obsession with Atiku is both laughable and alarming.
To say, “If I’m his son, I will sit him down…” is not only vulgar, it is the unfiltered venom of a man drunk on his own delusions. It is a repugnant insult to a national figure who has served Nigeria with distinction at the highest levels of government. There is nothing clever about such rhetoric, it reeks of juvenile arrogance. This is the same Nyesom Wike who once groveled for the political support of Rotimi Amaechi, only to later unleash a torrent of public insults and treachery upon him. He insulted and undermined Goodluck Jonathan, the very man under whose presidency he became a minister. Now, having bitten the very hands that fed him at every stage of his career, he turns his bile toward Atiku Abubakar, a man who defended him when the PDP considered disciplining him. Wike’s political legacy is a chronicle of betrayal, public tantrums, and performative aggression. He has turned insubordination into theatre, and ingratitude into an art form. His rise is a cautionary tale of what happens when unrefined power is placed in the hands of the ungrateful. Such a man lacks the moral standing to lecture anyone on political loyalty or national leadership.
What is truly at stake here is not Atiku’s political journey. What is at stake is the erosion of political civility, the corrosion of ministerial discipline, and the emergence of a culture where disrespect toward elder statesmen becomes the currency of ambition. One wonders what festering insecurity torments him so deeply that he compulsively erupts into petty outbursts, flailing about with the intellectual grace of a spoiled delinquent drunk on his own irrelevance. When men like Wike, intoxicated by transient power and unrestrained by wisdom or patriotism, are allowed to recklessly spew venomous provocations from official podiums, the very fabric of our nation trembles. His unchecked insolence is not merely an embarrassment, it is a corrosive force gnawing at the foundations of our fragile unity. If such recklessness remains uncurbed, it is not far-fetched to envision the unraveling of Nigeria’s cohesion, accelerated by the toxic grandstanding of those who should be custodians of peace.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the leader of the All Progressives Congress and the sitting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, must rise to this challenge. The President must not allow his silence to be misinterpreted as tacit approval of Wike’s serial indiscipline and divisive rhetoric. A democracy without consequences for insubordination by public officers is one teetering on the precipice of institutional collapse.
History offers us chilling parallels. When unchecked arrogance took root in Mobutu’s Zaire, and Idi Amin’s Uganda, it led to a generation of ruin and international disgrace. Nigeria must not flirt with that same fate. Ministerial office is not a license for verbal brigandage. Wike was not appointed to divide the polity or to insult senior citizens whose sacrifices for Nigeria’s unity and economic stability far outweigh his own parochial contributions.
His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar remains a former Vice President of the Federal Republic, a man who presided over the National Economic Council and helped shepherd Nigeria through economic reform. His movement across parties, if anything, reflects a persistent search for platforms that resonate with his vision for Nigeria, not a character flaw to be ridiculed by a man whose own legacy is tainted by unrestrained vituperation and opportunistic alliances.
Again, it is important to make very clear that Minister Wike’s continued public insubordination without consequence will embolden other political actors to speak carelessly, dishonor the office they hold, and plunge our nation into irreparable disharmony. President Tinubu must act not as a partisan observer but as a statesman. He must call Wike to order, lest history records his silence as complicity.
Nigeria needs healing, national redemption, maturity, and focused leadership, not the egoistic theatrics of a political jester. In this moment, we call for restraint, wisdom, and discipline, qualities that define true statesmen, and which must now be demanded of every appointee, regardless of their antecedents.
His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar embodies a resilient beacon of national aspiration. He stands as a formidable bridge, linking generations, harmonizing regions, and reconciling divergent ideologies. His proactive engagement with the global Nigerian Diaspora, steadfast advocacy for constitutional restructuring, transformative educational reform, economic revitalization, and inclusive governance is not merely a policy agenda, it is a visionary blueprint for national redemption. No amount of derisive invective from a rapidly diminishing political figure can obscure his enduring relevance or the gravitas he brings to Nigeria’s democratic evolution.
The soul of our republic, its unity, its civic dignity, and the ethical foundations of its democratic order, teeters precariously on the brink. Let history record, with unforgiving clarity, that those who mock statesmen and desecrate the values of public service will not ascend into legacy; they shall dissolve into ignominious footnotes, remembered only through the towering shadows cast by the very figures they sought to demean.
Enough is enough.
Professor Mondy Gold, NHF, CFP, MPA, PhD (x2) Chairman, Board of Trustees, Ijaw Diaspora Council Worldwide; Former Chairman, Board of Trustees, NADECO-USA; Fellow, Chartered Institute of Leadership and Governance (USA)
Recipient, Nigerian Peace Ambassador Award and Inductee, Nigerian Hall of Fame, Honored with the United States President’s Lifetime Achievement Award. A globally respected thought leader and institution-builder, Professor Gold’s profile reflects a lifetime of service at the intersection of diplomacy, leadership, and transformative advocacy. His distinguished contributions continue to inspire across continents.
