• Pledges to partner DAAR Communications on ambitious media city project, land dispute resolution
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike has called on the media to hold politicians accountable for their actions while avoiding partisan “witch-hunts” and unverified narratives that deepen public confusion and mistrust.
He made the call during a courtesy visit by the management team of DAAR Communications Plc, led by Raymond Dokpesi Jr.
Addressing the broadcaster’s leadership, Wike stressed that the media’s role in a democracy is to inform citizens accurately, not to punish or amplify political grievances.
“You should be able to challenge politicians to act according to due process. We don’t want to obey the rules and when anything happens, it’s not for us to blame ourselves that we’re not obeying the rules. You say it is INEC or the judiciary,” he said.
He warned that when politicians are allowed to violate the rules without consequences, the public instinctively shifts blame to institutions such as INEC and the judiciary. “And then we blame the judiciary and we blame INEC now. The next thing, again, is the government in power. Until I came out to say that if anybody was saying that there was no judgment, then what were you appealing for? Why did you go to the Supreme Court? What was the judgment that you wanted to appeal to the Supreme Court? Because if you have won a case, you don’t go and appeal. It’s only when the existence of judgment is affecting you that you go and appeal.”
Pointing to the 2024 general election and related party disputes, Wike argued that many of the attacks on INEC were misconceived. He said a clear understanding of the legal sequence would reveal that the electoral umpire bore no blame. “If you do not understand it, obviously, you will blame INEC. There’s no way you will not blame INEC. But if you go back and follow the scenario, you will know that there’s nothing you can hold INEC responsible for, nothing. If you are not biased, you will know that INEC has no blame at all, at all,” he said.
Wike used the recent PDP crisis in the Federal Capital Territory as a case in point. He criticised the repetition of the term “factional” even after courts had already ruled on the matter. “Even under the PDP crisis, sometimes I watch when people say factional. Even when convention has been conducted. Even when the Court of Appeal has said, look, we have dismissed everything, we have set aside the convention, up till now, you still watch and see factional. Where is the faction again? You know, sometimes you begin to wonder, what really are we doing?”
He argued that repeated “factional” framing without regard for court judgments undermines the rule of law. “A court of competent jurisdiction, even up to the Court of Appeal level, has given judgment. If we do not obey that Court of Appeal, then where are we heading to? So sometimes I feel so bad that somebody will simply talk about ‘factional’,” Wike said. “Once people read these things, they begin to say what is happening. That is not what we ought to do. We should be able to give the citizens the advantage of getting the correct information as it is at that time; it will help us a lot.”
Wike insisted that the media’s critical lens should be directed at elected and party officials, not at institutions that are legally bound to follow judicial orders. “You should be able to challenge politicians to act according to due process. We don’t want to obey the rules and when anything happens, it’s not for us to blame ourselves that we’re not obeying the rules. You say it is INEC or the judiciary,” he repeated.
He explained that when politicians breach due process, they create the very conditions for crisis, yet they habitually deflect blame. “I mean, I’m a politician and you are my opposition. If I see anything that there is a loophole, I’m not here to help you. It’s not my duty to help you. Just as when you see a loophole in a ruling government, you capitalize on it to see how there will be a change of government. You’re not the one to vote the ruling government to say, ‘look, correct this thing.’ No. You leave them. And use it against them to make sure that you take over power. So also the ruling party will begin to observe and watch whether their opponent has something that can make them fall on the other side. They don’t need to come and help you.”
Drawing a broader political lesson, Wike rejected the idea of politicians as “prophets” who can predict events before they happen. “And I keep on telling people that the way you dress your bed, so you will lie on it. Everybody knew what happened in 2016 and 2017 under the PDP. The PDP nearly crumbled. Why? The government in power then made sure that there was no PDP. And that was correct. And I say any day, any time. But those who were in the party then said, look, we will not agree. Our party will not fall and we stood by it. Nobody was going to defect. We stood by it.”
He then warned against the use of prophecy-style commentary in politics and the media. “Don’t sit in your chair to even interpret or even see in vision. Some of us now have become prophets. We even see and say, this is what will happen. So that is not the best thing.”
Wike returned to the theme of media independence, warning that journalists risk becoming tools of disgruntled politicians if they surrender editorial judgment. He cited the example of critics who rush to media houses after losing political battles, demanding negative coverage of their opponents. “Those that I have defeated several times, then they will come under you and say, ‘look, do this, do this, do this.’ What do you expect people like Atiku to do? That said, I made him to fail election. He cannot be happy with me naturally. Yes, he cannot be happy. But the media should not be used. Stand firm.”
He said a journalist’s integrity lies in the willingness to resist such pressure. “If you believe what you are saying is correct, stand firm. But if you know that in your conscience it’s not correct, you don’t need to bring such stories out. Because you don’t know the danger or the damage you have caused,” Wike said.
Recalling an incident during an earlier media interview in which he was accused of threatening to kill a guest, Wike said DAAR had handled the issue with professionalism. “You can imagine what happened in our media chat, people just capitalize on things even when I explained there that look, it is not correct, I didn’t say I will kill him. All I was trying to explain is that it was figurative. How do you begin to go so low. You are an interviewer, how do you now begin to say something that you are no longer interviewing your guests? You are now saying this is what is going on and it’s not fair. So that was why I said, if I can break this TV, how can you break a TV and kill? I mean, how can? And people will capitalize on everything.”
He praised DAAR for not amplifying what he described as a misleading narrative. “I thank God that you people are doing well. I cannot see where you are being used by politicians who have failed, who will capitalize on things that do not matter,” he said.
Avoiding social media misinformation
Touching on the role of social media, Wike warned that viral hoaxes now often outpace the media’s fact-checking capacity. “And now that we have the social media, all kinds of stories fly. I don’t know whether it’s April Fool, but somebody said I’ve resigned to contest for a position and even forged my signature and call it as April Fool. But you see, people began calling left, right, and centre. But I believe that we will get it right if we continue to do what we are supposed to be doing,” he said.
Wike closed this segment of his remarks by reaffirming the need for the media to remain independent yet constructive. “We politicians should be able to put our house in order. The media should be able to challenge us, to hold us to account, but not to become megaphones for political vendettas,” he said. “If you let the citizens know this is the correct thing that’s going on, you’ll find out that people will not have this impression they have.”
Responding to Wike’s broader media message, Dokpesi acknowledged the importance of objective reporting amid highly charged political contests. “We value this opportunity to deepen our constructive relationship with this institution and to align our corporate objectives with the administration’s priorities,” he said. “We wish to place on record our appreciation for the renewed momentum and quality of road construction within the cadastral zone of the Federal Capital Territory. We recognise the scale and complexity of these works and commend Your Excellency’s leadership in advancing access, safety, and development within the FCT.”
Dokpesi said that DAAR’s approach has always been to report political developments with a focus on accuracy and context. “Truth pushed to earth must resurrect, and so it is no surprise that the political stakeholders today unanimously recognize you as the leader of the People’s Democratic Party. Congratulations on your political achievements and in recognizing your political milestones,” he told Wike. “We also commend Your Excellency for your political sagacity and capacity to recently assemble a host of distinguished delegates across the FCT.”
He added that DAAR sees itself as a platform that can help citizens understand the legal and procedural background of political disputes. “We are very careful about the way we frame political stories, especially where courts have already pronounced. We do not see the media’s role as a platform for political vendettas or for amplifying partisan grief. We are here to inform, to clarify, and sometimes to challenge power, but not to wage witch-hunts,” Dokpesi said.
Dokpesi reiterated this concern, noting that DAAR’s editorial policy is to verify before amplifying politically charged claims. “We are very aware of the dangers of misinformation, especially in the political season. We are careful to cross-check facts with official statements, court documents, and reliable sources before publishing or broadcasting. Our job is not to amplify rumour, but to clarify reality,” he said.
He reaffirmed DAAR’s commitment to a balanced, fact-based approach. “We will continue to challenge power, but we will do so with integrity, with context, and with due regard for the rule of law. We are here to work with the FCT administration to tell the story of Abuja’s development, but not at the expense of our responsibility to the citizenry,” he said.
Dokpesi outlined DAAR’s broader corporate ambitions, pitching an integrated media-city and creative-economy hub in Abuja. He spoke of creating an internationally recognised media system with studios, hotels, residential facilities, shopping and entertainment spaces, and educational formats that would support a “safe, liveable, shop-free, learn-and-earn environment” and an active festival calendar.
“Our vision for the development of access is to create an internationally recognised media system which will enable us to sign and record accommodations, residences, hotels, hospitals, shopping experiences, studios for production and for the advancement of the creative economy,” Dokpesi said. He also linked the project to partnerships with institutions such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Tourism and Political Economy, the Bank of Industry, the African Export-Import Bank, and the African Development Bank, as well as to film festivals and international brands.
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