Wike-Soldier Faceoff: Obeying Orders Doesn’t Mean Perpetrating Illegality, Says FCT Minister’s Aide

Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Publicity and Communication, has condemned what he described as penchant for “illegality,” following Tuesday’s public confrontation between his principal and a military officer at a construction site in Abuja.

Speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast show, ‘Sunrise Daily’, on Wednesday, Olayinka said the face-off between the FCT Minister Wike and the Naval officer exposed the deeper culture of impunity and disregard for lawful authority in the country.

“We went there yesterday because the way we operate in this country — zero attitude to compliance — and it is painful,” Olayinka said.
He expressed concern over the justification given by the military officer, who claimed that he was merely obeying orders from his superior to guard the site.

Olayinka said that the argument reflected a disturbing misunderstanding of what obedience means in a constitutional democracy. “I saw the military officer yesterday telling us that he was acting on an order, and I have also read online that a military man should obey the last order,” he said. “And I asked myself — which order? Even the minister said it yesterday that yes, you obey orders, but the order must be lawful and reasonable.”

Olayinka questioned the logic behind unconditional obedience to superiors, warning that such a mindset could easily lead to gross abuse of power and violations of human rights.
“If I am a military officer and my superior gives me an order to shoot somebody or rape my daughter, will I obey the order because it is coming from my superior?” he asked.

“Or if my superior is dragging a girlfriend with somebody and he sees that person on the street and says I should shoot this person — should I obey him because he’s my superior?”

He argued that while discipline and hierarchy remain the backbone of the armed forces, obedience cannot be divorced from reason and legality.

Olayinka further criticised the use of military personnel for private security purposes, noting that soldiers assigned to protect high-ranking officials were often diverted to non-official duties that leave them and their principals vulnerable.

“A military man should go and mount guard in a public building under construction?” he queried.
“A military man that was posted to the former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Auwal Gambo, as his security detail to secure him — he now chose to be vulnerable instead and sends them to go and guard an uncompleted building.”

LEADERSHIP reports that the open confrontation between Wike and the soldier occurred on Tuesday at a construction site in Abuja, where the FCT Minister was reportedly enforcing compliance with the city’s building and land use regulations. Videos circulating online showed Wike in a heated exchange with the uniformed officer identified as A.M Yerima, who insisted he was acting on superior orders.