Wike and the price of power, by Engr. Bello Gwarzo Abdullahi, FNSE
Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi’s insightful piece, “The Cost of Keeping Wike,” raises fundamental questions about the moral and political direction of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration. Yet the matter goes beyond Wike himself — it speaks to a government fast losing its sense of moral gravity and national purpose.
From the moment President Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, the “Renewed Hope” mantra began to ring hollow. Nigerians were hit by a double shock — the abrupt removal of fuel subsidy and the reckless floating of the Naira. Both measures, devoid of empathy or foresight, unleashed inflation, deepened poverty, and crippled livelihoods. From that point, it was clear that this government had confused bravado for reform and audacity for competence.
At the heart of Nigeria’s present disorder lies the moral emptiness of political expediency. Power, in the current dispensation, has been reduced to an instrument of patronage — rewarding loyalty, silencing dissent, and excusing failure. The continued retention of Nyesom Wike as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory is the clearest sign of that decay.
Wike’s toxic blend of vanity, intimidation, and administrative recklessness has done more damage to governance than most care to admit. His self-serving conduct has eroded public confidence, fractured the ruling APC, and handed the opposition a potent narrative of hypocrisy. His recent altercation with Naval Lieutenant A.M. Yerima exposed a deeper malaise — the use of state power to pursue personal vendettas, a reflection of how institutional integrity has been hollowed out by arrogance.
Read also:When Power Blinds: Lessons from Wike’s fall from grace, by Engr. Bello Gwarzo Abdullahi, FNSE
Allegations of vast foreign property acquisitions under Wike’s name have further darkened the administration’s image. The government’s silence in the face of these controversies is not neutrality; it is complicity. A government that cannot hold its own ministers to account cannot credibly preach reform. When loyalty outweighs integrity, accountability dies, and with it, the moral legitimacy of leadership.
But the rot goes beyond one man. Nigeria today faces worsening insecurity, a collapsing economy, and deepening social fragmentation. Kidnappings, banditry, and unemployment have become routine. Ethnic and religious fault lines are once again being manipulated for political gain. Governance has been reduced to survival politics — an endless cycle of excuses and self-preservation.
Bolaji Akinyemi is right to warn that Wike has become a liability to the Tinubu government. But the truth is grimmer: keeping him signals the death of accountability itself. The president must now choose between politics and principle, loyalty and legacy. Leadership is not about rewarding allies; it is about upholding values, even when it is inconvenient.
If this administration still hopes to recover credibility, it must begin with moral courage — the courage to draw lines, to enforce discipline, and to remember that power without conscience is ruin. The cost of keeping Wike has already been high, but the greater cost will come if recklessness remains unchecked.
History has never been kind to leaders who mistake loyalty for virtue or confuse control for vision. Power, no matter how secure it seems, always turns on those who abuse it. In the end, Wike’s saga is not just about one man’s fall — it is about a government’s fading moral light, and a nation still searching for integrity in leadership.
Written by Engr. Bello Gwarzo Abdullahi, FNSE.
Email: bgabdullahi@gmail.com
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