The Atiku Media Office on Saturday, April 4, 2026, condemned in the most forceful and unequivocal terms, what it described as “the disgraceful and dangerous” threat issued by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, against a journalist and broadcaster, Seun Okinbaloye.
The Media office further stated that let Nigerians be under no illusion that when those entrusted with authority begin to speak the language of violence against the press, democracy itself is under attack.
It emphasised that Wike’s outburst is not an isolated slip, but a symptom of a broader, more dangerous pattern under the administration of Bola Tinubu and a pattern where dissent is criminalised, criticism is met with hostility, and intimidation has become the default language of governance.
These were contained in a statement by the Atiku Media office in which it also noted that for a serving minister of the Federal Republic to publicly declare, on live television, that he wished to shoot a journalist over a professional opinion is not just reckless, but a chilling signal of how far the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led federal government has descended into intolerance, lawlessness, and naked abuse of power.
The statement noted that the threat by Wike was not a joke nor banter, but a threat with a clear, direct, and deeply sinister.
“In sane democracies, such a statement would trigger immediate resignation or dismissal. In today’s Nigeria, it is becoming frighteningly routine.
“What crime did Mr. Okinbaloye commit? He dared to warn against the creeping danger of a one-party state. For this, a minister of the republic responded not with reason, but with a threat of violence. Nothing captures the current state of governance more starkly.
“This is how democracies die—not only through stolen mandates or weakened institutions, but through the gradual normalisation of threats, fear, and the silencing of independent voices.
“We must ask: if a prominent journalist can be threatened so brazenly on national television, what protection exists for the ordinary Nigerian?” it pondered.
The Atiku Media Office stressed that the reckless conduct is unacceptable and must not be allowed to stand.
It therefore demanded an immediate and unconditional public apology from Nyesom Wike to Seun Okinbaloye and the entire Nigerian media community and a clear and public repudiation of the dangerous rhetoric by the administration of Bola Tinubu.
It also demanded concrete assurances for the safety and protection of journalists across Nigeria, stressing that anything short of this will confirm what many Nigerians already fear—that this government is not merely intolerant of dissent, but increasingly comfortable with the language and instruments of repression.
It said that Nigeria will not be bullied into silence, adding that the press will not be cowed, and truth will not be silenced by threats, no matter how powerful or highly placed those behind them.
