The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has urged the Nigerian Navy to tender an unreserved apology to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, following Wednesday’s public confrontation between the minister and a junior naval officer, Lt. A.M. Yerima.
National Chairman of PANDEF, Ambassador Boladei Igali, made the call on Thursday in Port Harcourt, condemning what he described as the “social media glamorisation” of the officer’s grossly improper conduct.
Igali alleged that the naval officer acted on the instructions of a retired service chief, a situation he said was unbecoming and contrary to military discipline.
He stressed that the retired officer ought to recognise that Wike, as a member of the Federal Executive Council and direct representative of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on all matters concerning the FCT, deserves the highest level of respect.
Read Also: Wike accuses ex-Naval Chief of land grab, soldiers bar minister from disputed plot
He said, “Chief Wike, without doubt, one of the best performing ministers in this administration, deserves to be treated with much more respect and decorum”.
The former Federal Permanent Secretary and Diplomat lamented that the unacceptable behaviour of the junior naval officer was not just an affront to the FCT Minister but also an open show of disdain for the office of the President, “whose powers vested in the FCT Minister, was publicly ridiculed”.Related News
The south-south geopolitical zone leader said: “The Minister of the FCT deserves an unconditional apology from the leadership of the Nigerian Navy on behalf of its former Head and the hapless young officer involved in the horrible spectacle, which is an act outside its core mandate of protecting the territorial integrity of the country.
“The act of using ordinarily innocent junior military personnel to perform illegal duties like watching over unoccupied personal lands or the like must not be tolerated, irrespective of the self-restraint of the latter.”
Igali further called on Mr. President to direct the respective security and law enforcement authorities to fully investigate the incident and bring those involved to book.
“This will preserve the professionalism in the military and guarantee respect for constituted civil authority, which is the most basic foundation for building a stable, virile democracy where the law rules at all times”, he said.
Igali insisted that the person of the FCT minister must be fully protected from such overzealousness, as he continued to carry out his assigned duties with personal passion and zeal.
