• You’re A Jobless Man Masquerading As Activist — Wike
• You Want Rogues, Election Falsifiers Like Yourself To Be In Power -Adeyanju
By Kolawole Ojebisi
The last may not have been heard of the fiery exchange of words between the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Nyesom Wike and an Abuja based lawyer and activist, Deji Adeyanju.
The duo have been at each others throats for a couple of days.
Wike fired the first salvo, in what has become a pingpong of insults between the two parties, during media parley on Friday when he called Adeyanju, “a jobless person” desperately looking for a means of livelihood.
Wike added that the Abuja-based lawyer asked for his support to become the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a request the minister said he gladly turned down and ensured it never materialized.
Amidst suppressed smirk, Wike derisively referred to Adeyanju as an “activist” with emphasis on the word for effect.
He said, ” I saw one young man, Adeyanju, from Kogi State, he is also a member of the civil society, the young man came to me that he wants to be national publicity secretary of the PDP. I said, ‘no’ Yes, ‘I said, no’, Yes, I said, ‘he won’t be’ and he was not. Yes, I have no regrets about it.”
Wike continued, ” Then he suddenly became an activist, a member of the civil society. Then he started going from one place to another, criticizing me, shouting, ‘Wike is a bully, grabbing land from people etc.’
Is this the kind of civil society we have in this country? People who have no jobs?”
However, in a swift reaction, Adeyanju replied Wike with a tirade. He called Wike many unprintable names.
The activist attacked the minister’s personality and looks. He added that Wike is labouring under the illusion that he is an elder statesman because of the terrible looks that belie his real age and penchant for making a noise “all over the place.”
Adeyanju said, “The reason he (Wike) is making so much noise all over the place is because of our collective patrimony which he loots and steals and the land he is grabbing in the FCT for himself and his friends.
“Wike wants everyone to leave politics to rogues like him. People that falsify election results. His idea of a nation building is where rogues like him will be at the helm of affairs(sic).”
An obviously angry Adeyanju described Wike as an “unreasonable person”.
Meanwhile, hours after Adeyanju’s tirade against Wike, the minister’s aide, Olalere Olayinka, launched a subtle jab at the lawyer. The tirade was contained in a statement issued on Saturday, titled, “Wike unfazed by scammers, hustlers masquerading as activists.
Olayinka noted that his principal would ignore, what he described as “Yahoo Yahoo” antics through which some activist have sustained themselves.
He stressed that Wike won’t dignify Adeyanju’s rants with a response adding that doing so is like, “wrestling with a pig”.
According to the statement, “the danger of wrestling with a pig will be that at the end of the fight, sane minds won’t be able to differentiate between you and the pig you fought with.”
The statement reads in part, “Therefore, as a matter of principle, we won’t dignify some people with any response.
“This is more so that we know how a certain emergency activist diverted election money to purchase a petrol station. We know how some so-called activists have fought themselves over protest money, including the one in 2019.”
It continues:” The style of these hustlers masquerading as activists has always been the same. They will threaten and blackmail you by making noise in the media or organizing protest against you. They will be the same people that will arrange someone to approach you that the ‘activists’ can be reached and that they can help. The moment you agree, they will come back with bills that you must pay, and once you pay, they move on to another targets, in most cases, public office holders.
“There are some whose area of core competence is to organize press conference for or against, and get paid.
“Unfortunately for this hustler-activists, Wike is not one who plays that kind of game, and that’s the reason they are frustrated.
“Therefore, for us, they will shout, shout and shout tire, the Minister will keep ignoring them and focusing on his jobs, delivery of which can be seen across the FCT.”
On the issue of grabbing lands, Olayinka challenged those making such allegations to provide evidence of lands owned by anyone, that the FCT Minister grabbed.
