By KEHINDE OLAOSEBIKAN
I was there. The President said it. A former FCT minister affirmed it. As a resident since 1988, I confirm it.
I was at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, Friday night for the special thanksgiving banquet organized to celebrate the successful inauguration of 31 projects across the Federal Capital Territory as part of activities marking the third anniversary of the present administration. Speaking through the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declared the current FCT minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, the best minister so far in the 50 years’ existence of the territory. Minutes earlier, the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, spoke through Dr. Aliyu Modibo. Dr. Modibo, who served as FCT minister between 2007 and 2008, is currently the Special Adviser to the President on General Duties in the office of the Vice President. Speaking ex tempore, Modibo informed the audience of eminent Nigerians that he had the VP’s permission to do “a peer review of all the past and present FCT ministers” on the occasion.
His verdict was clear: the incumbent is “one of the best three ministers” in the history of the administration of the 8,000 square kilometre territory. He named the three as Air Vice Marshal Hamza Abdullahi, Major General Muhammadu Gado Nasko and the incumbent, Barrister Nyesom Wike. Dr. Modibo, however, left the choice of who is first, second or third to the audience. But the gathering, made up of serving and past ministers, past and serving members of the National Assembly, serving and former permanent secretaries, serving and former directors of the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory, serving and past chairmen of FCT area councils and others, chorused: “Wike is the first,” and Modibo smiled heartily. Two endorsements: one from the President, one from a peer who has sat in the same chair. That is weighty. Thirty eight years of watching, I write as a witness.
