“Naval Officer vs Wike: He Breached the Law — Says Top Nigerian SAN”
Reacting to
the incident in a Facebook post on Wednesday, Hon condemned the officer’s
decision to obstruct Wike’s access to a disputed plot of land in Abuja, saying
the act could not be justified under any lawful military order.
“Brushing
sentiments aside, I hereby condemn in totality the actions of the Naval
Officer, A.M. Yerima, who obstructed the FCT Minister from gaining access into
that parcel of land, under the guise of ‘obeying superior orders.’
“The duty of
a junior officer to obey the orders of his superiors, even though strongly
upheld in military and paramilitary circles, has its own limitations recognised
by no other authority but the Supreme Court of Nigeria,” he wrote.
Hon cited
Supreme Court rulings in Onunze v. State (2023) 8 NWLR (Pt. 1885) 61 and
Nigeria Air Force v. James (2002) 18 NWLR (Pt. 798) 295, which, according to
him, clearly established that military officers are not bound to obey illegal
or manifestly unjust orders.
“The
illegality in that order stems primarily from the fact that no service law of
the military permits a serving military officer to mount guard at the private
construction site of his boss, especially under suspicious circumstances like
this,” he stated.
He added
that if security concerns existed, “the retired Naval Officer ought, under the
circumstances, to have engaged the civil police.”
Hon further
stressed that as the FCT minister, Wike exercises the powers of the President
over land administration in Abuja, pursuant to Sections 297(2) and other
provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He said, “By
Section 302 of the same Constitution, read together with other extant Acts of
the National Assembly, the President of Nigeria has delegated all powers with
respect to land administration in the FCT Abuja to the minister.
“Going by
constitutional and administrative law, therefore, Mr Wike stood in loco of the
President of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces on
that fateful day.
“Consequently,
even if the superior officer were still in service, he would not disobey Mr
Wike or obstruct him from entering the land. This was an affront to the civil
authority of Mr President.” While acknowledging the minister’s method may be
brash, he said Wike’s action “is legal and lawful in all respects.
“Rather, it
is the officer who obstructed him that has breached not just the Nigerian
Constitution, but also service and extant regulatory laws. This means the
officer in question could be arraigned before a Court Martial for obstructing a
public officer from performing his public duties, et cetera,” he added.
The law
professor cautioned against celebrating the incident, warning that condoning
such acts could embolden security personnel to disrespect civil authority.
“If such
intolerable conduct by the young officer is not punished or is celebrated, this
may unleash a reign of terror by the men in khaki against hapless civilians —
with a grin or boast that ‘we did it to Wike and nothing happened,’” he
concluded.
Hon is among
the voices joining the public discourse following Tuesday’s heated clash
between Wike and the naval officer at a disputed land site in Abuja.
The
confrontation occurred at Plot 1946, Gaduwa District, Abuja, when officials of
the Federal Capital Territory Administration, acting under Wike’s order,
attempted to enforce a stop-work/demolition order over a lack of title
documents.
The
Video of the encounter, which circulated widely on social media, shows the
FCT Minister and his team being blocked by uniformed personnel and exchanging
heated words with Yarima.
Wike accused
the soldiers and the developers of land grabbing and vowed not to be
intimidated by any individual or group He recounted that the military
intervened during the enforcement of FCT directives, which prompted the
confrontation.
“When they
came here, I was informed that the military came to chase them away, and I
thought they were acting illegally.
“So today,
while I was in the office, they came to implement the directive that was given
to them by myself. I was told that the military had taken over the place, and I
had to come by myself. It is really unfortunate.
“I do not
understand how somebody who attained that position sees that he has a problem
and cannot approach my office to say, ‘look, this is what is going on,’ but
simply because he is a military man, he could use that to intimidate Nigerians.
I am not one who will succumb to blackmail or intimidation,” Wike said.