Human rights lawyer, Prof Chidi Odinkalu, has lambasted the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, over recent comments where the minister questioned his moral justification to criticise him.
According to Wike, Odinkalu also did not perform well during his time as chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The FCT minister was responding to an opinion piece titled “Wiked judges and Nyesomised courts,” where Odinkalu described Wike’s political trajectory as having been “attended by what appears to be an unusual coincidence of mutually beneficial intercourse with the judiciary.”
The former NHRC boss referred to different instances where Wike bought SUVs for judges, allegedly awarded a contract to a former President of the Court of Appeal, and recently commenced construction of houses, suggesting that the FCT had been using such gestures to get favourable court judgements.
“There is no political litigant in the country more prolific than the current Minister of the FCT. He has an almost extra-terrestrial ability to normalise outcomes that defy all cannons of lawful judicial enterprise. If anyone fits the description of the prohibition in Rule 2.8 of the Judicial Conduct, it is Minister Wike. Yet, for him, the Chief Justice of Nigeria is happy to retrench that same Code of Conduct,” Odinkalu wrote.
The professor’s article came in the wake of the recent Federal High Court verdict which blocked the federal allocations to Rivers State. The suit was filed by members of the Rivers State House of Assembly said to be loyal to Wike.
But reacting on Friday at the unveiling of the N10bn FCT Renewed Hope programme, Wike questioned Odinkalu’s qualification as a professor, saying he achieved nothing as NHRC chairman.
He said: “Someone showed me a write-up they said was written by a professor. I asked him the professor of which university? Nobody knows.
“They were given an opportunity in the Human Rights Commission. Ask them what was their performance. What was the record when the government allowed him to be there? Zero!”
In response, Odinkalu, who took to his official X handle, described Wike as a “greedy glutton” who should not speak on ethical conduct.
He tweeted, “In Abuja, @GovWike is flexing. He is a #LifeBencher inebriated on substance which may or may not be just power. He can buy whomever he wants with public money to do whatever he desires. But even that has a shelf-life. This idiocy will end one day too.
“One more thing, unlike @GovWike, I have a life outside messing about with the #PublicPurse. I left @NhrcNigeria 9 years ago & I have no interest or desire to maintain “structure” there. A greedy glutton has no business giving lectures on the virtues of being teetotal!”
Furthermore, Odinkalu took to his LinkedIn page early Sunday morning to slam the minister, questioning his credibility as a public servant.
In the post, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria said, “#NyesomWike became a member of the Nigerian Bar Association HQ in 1991 & promptly mistook #TheBar for an invitation to get hopelessly drunk.
“In the same decade, he embarked on a political career beginning with local government.
“In the 25 years since he first held public office as the Chair of Obio/Akpor LGA in Rivers State in 1999, Mr Wike has held various other positions in succession as Chief of Staff to the Governor of Rivers State; Minister of State for Education; & 2-term governor of Rivers State.
“In Aug. 2023, he became Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Over this quarter century, Mr Wike evolved into the quintessential #GovernmentIndigene
“He has emerged as the #GreedyGlutton of the Nigerian political space, bingeing on every beverage the country can offer: power, public money, the judiciary, treachery, violence, vintage alcohol & lots more.
“Inebriated as he is with substances financed by the #PublicPurse, Mr Wike now thinks he must be #WorshippedAndGlorified. But #Nigeria is not his grove & we did not escort him to the country.
“His gluttonous lips have done enough damage being perennially clasped around #Nigeria‘s sovereign #FeedingBottle,” he said.