Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike has said he would have shot Channels Television presenter Seun Okinbaloye for alleging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu aims to turn Nigeria into a one-party state. The statement was made during a media parley on April 3, 2026, covered by Arise News, and has since triggered a wave of outrage across social media and within the journalism community. Peoples Gazette first reported the remarks, which were delivered in response to Okinbaloye’s on-air comments about opposition party dynamics and what he described as APC strategies to consolidate power through defections and institutional influence.
The context does not soften the statement. Wike, one of the most powerful political figures in the country and a man who controls the administration of the nation’s capital, publicly stated that he would have used lethal violence against a journalist for asking a question he did not like. Whether the statement was hyperbole, a joke, or a genuine expression of intent, the effect is the same. A government minister with access to state security resources threatened to kill a member of the press for doing his job.
Okinbaloye’s comments, which sparked Wike’s reaction, touched on the ongoing leadership crisis within the African Democratic Congress and broader concerns that the ruling APC is using institutional mechanisms to weaken opposition parties ahead of the 2027 elections. The points raised were political analysis, not personal attacks. They were the kind of observations that fall squarely within the mandate of a free press in a democratic society. Wike’s response was not a rebuttal. It was a threat.
“I would have shot him,” Wike said, according to the Gazette’s report, delivered in a tone that left the room and the viewing public unsure whether he was serious or performing for effect.
The backlash on social media was swift and unsparing. Users described the statement as thuggish, authoritarian, and a direct threat to the safety of journalists in a country where press freedom is already under strain. Nigeria ranks poorly on global press freedom indices, and attacks on journalists, both physical and legal, are documented regularly. When a sitting minister, particularly one as influential as Wike, casually invokes violence against a named journalist, it sends a chilling message to every other reporter covering government. Ask the wrong question and you might not just lose access. You might lose your life.
Legal analysts and civil society voices called for immediate consequences. Some demanded Wike’s resignation or removal from office. Others called for criminal investigation, arguing that threatening to kill someone, even in jest, constitutes a criminal offence under Nigerian law. A few voices urged professional bodies including the Nigerian Union of Journalists and the Nigerian Guild of Editors to issue formal statements condemning the remarks and demanding accountability….See More
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