FILE: FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike
The spokesperson for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, Lere Olayinka, has challenged media adviser to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Paul Ibe, to explain whether FCT residents had complained about the minister’s frequent media chats.
“Did the people of FCT complain to him? Did they tell him their money is missing?” Olayinka asked in a telephone interview with PUNCH Online on Tuesday, responding to Ibe’s demand that Wike disclose the cost and funding sources of the broadcasts.
Ibe had questioned the cost of a media parley featuring Wike, which was broadcast by several television and radio stations. He estimated that eight stations broadcasting for two hours could cost between ₦160m and ₦320m per session, based on an estimated rate of ₦10m to ₦20m per station per hour.
However, the figures were estimates provided by Ibe and had not been independently verified.
Responding, Olayinka argued that Ibe should first address questions raised by Wike about funds allegedly collected from the sale of Rivers State’s gas turbine and the reported payment for a hospital project in the Caribbean.
“The minister asked questions where is the $308 million collected from the sale of Rivers State’s gas turbine? Where is the Caribbean White Hospital that he said they paid $39 million dollars?” Olayinka said.
He also questioned the reported payment of $10m for communication relating to Rivers State, insisting that Ibe should urge his principals to respond to the issues raised by Wike.
“He is now trying to digress into how much the media charges it cost,” he said, referring to Ibe’s questions about the broadcasts.
On the estimated cost of the media engagements, Olayinka questioned the basis for Ibe’s calculations and whether he had evidence of the payments.
“Does he know how much is being paid? Does he know whether we are ever paying? He is the one telling you what is being paid,” he said.
Olayinka also disputed the claim that a media chat could cost ₦200m per edition, asking who had supplied the figures.
“Who told him that media chat costs 200 million naira per edition? Who told him that?” he said.
He maintained that Ibe should focus on the questions Wike had raised about the alleged Rivers State funds .
“Where is Rivers money? Where did Atiku get money to contest for president?” Olayinka asked.
Ibe had said FCT residents deserved to know how much was being spent on the broadcasts and how much airtime was devoted to issues affecting the territory.
“There is nothing wrong with a minister explaining his stewardship. But public resources must serve public purposes, not personal political battles,” Ibe wrote in his post on X.
Olayinka, however, argued that the questions raised by Wike should be addressed before attention shifted to the cost of the minister’s media engagements.