Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, tackled Mike Ozekhome, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), at a programme in Abuja, on Thursday.
Wike, who was an awardee at This Nigeria Lecture and Award, said previous speakers acted as if there has been no gain for the country under democracy.
The theme of the event was “25 Years of Unbroken Democracy – Challenges, Prospects and Possibilities”.
“Ladies and gentlemen, yes I am an awardee but also a Nigerian. It will be wrong sitting here without correcting some impressions. We are talking about 25 years of democracy; we know we have challenges. I expected the lecturer to also speak of progress. But the lecture was just about criticism, nothing was said about progress. Are you telling me that no single progress was made? We can say there is progress but there’s need for improvement.
“Just like Shehu Sani said they were locked up and detained. But that doesn’t happen under this democracy; that’s progress. You have spoken about infrastructural development in FCT, that’s progress. So I just said I should say the fact. And again, the fact that you people are activists does not mean that you would do well in power. Activists have failed.”
Pointing towards Shehu Sani, Wike asked, “When you were in Senate, how did you perform?”
Then to Ozekhome, he asked, “As an activist, how many times have you rejected briefs? Those who rigged election, how many times have you defended them? It’s not about postulating all the time.”
However, Sani and Ozekhome did not have the opportunity to react to Wike’s claims.
