Outspoken social media critic and activist, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), on Monday, took his protest to the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), demanding an end to the over 90-day strike by primary school teachers in Abuja.
In a dramatic and symbolic demonstration, VDM gathered school children dressed in their uniforms outside the FCT Ministery’s gate and conducted an open-air class, teaching the pupils alphabets in a satirical fashion.
“S for Suegbe, T for Tinubu, W for Wike,” VDM chanted, as the children echoed his words.
LEADERSHIP reports that primary school teachers in the FCT have been on strike since March 24, 2025, in protest against the failure of Area Council Chairmen to implement the new national minimum wage of ₦70,000. The prolonged industrial action has left pupils out of public schools for over three months, with no resolution in sight.
Addressing the demonstrators, Bitrus Garki, Mandate Secretary of the Area Councils Services Secretariat, explained that the issue lies mainly with the FCT Area Councils, although the FCT Administration header by Minister Nyesom Wike has been actively involved in mediation efforts.
“The FCT administration has been intervening in Area Council matters,” Garki said. “This responsibility is largely the responsibility of the Area Councils. But because this is the state and we also have a relationship with the local government, that is why we come in to intervene in many cases, not just schools, including infrastructure, and many other things.”
He added that the FCT Administration had been in talks with various stakeholders including the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and even traditional rulers, in efforts to resolve the matter.
“I can’t stand here and say this is when it is going to end,” Garki admitted. “But I can tell you that the administration is working closely… and we have received your message loud and clear.”
Garki appealed for patience, assuring that the FCT Minister was taking steps to ensure that the Area Council chairmen fulfill their responsibilities and get children back in school.
Unsatisfied with the FCT official’s response, VDM issued a seven-day ultimatum to the FCT Administration, warning that a larger protest involving more schoolchildren from across the Territory would follow if action was not taken.
“We have decided to give them a week,” he said. “If they don’t do anything and the children are not back in school, we will invite students from the whole FCT to come.”
VDM also announced plans to protest next over the strike by primary healthcare workers, who, like the teachers, have been denied the new minimum wage.
“Today is for the students,” VeryDarkMan said. “We are going to do for primary healthcare. It’s just for Wike to be seeing. We are not fighting him. Let him just see so that he will remember, maybe he has forgotten. He’s stressed. He nearly fell from the plane. He’s preparing for the 2027 elections, but he has forgotten.”
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