By Felix Durumbah, Abuja
There were high tension, drama and suspense in Abuja, the nation’s capital, as Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, halted his convoy and stepped down from his vehicle to personally confront a mass of contractors protesting their unpaid debt overhang totalling about N5.2billion.
The development which occurred about 11:00am on Wednesday, 24 June, sent curious passers-by and several security operatives in the vicinity scrambling in a forward surge towards the scene, which happened just outside the main entrance gate leading into FCT Administration (FCTA)’s headquarters located on 1 Kapital Road, Area 11, Garki.
The vexed contracts, which had drawn many protests by the Association of Indigenous Contractors of FCT, the contractors’ umbrella body, for years now, were reportedly executed for several public welfare projects such as in the health sector, desilting of drainages, supply of office furniture, installation of air conditioners and others.
Videos sighted by People&Politics showed the Minister’s convoy initially making its way from a nearby junction towards the gate, the pilot motorcycle honking the traditional loud siren.
The videos showed that as the convoy of obviously mint-new Special Utility Vehicles (SUVs) snaked its way to the gate, the protesters hastily arranged and raised their posters and banners, bearing different inscriptions pertaining to their plight, in an apparent bid to draw the Minister’s attention.
However, the convoy suddenly and unexpectedly drew to a halt and the Minister stepped out of his official SUV and walked briskly towards the protesters.
Armed security operatives quickly massed in tow as Wike addressed the contractors.
It was the first time the powerful Minister had spoken face-to-face publicly with the angry contractors.
The Minister, who had in the past accused the contractors of, among others, obtaining the jobs allegedly below the radar and without his authorization –a charge they denied with documents showing extant circulars and other materials confirming the contracts as legal and valid–, this time accused them of being sponsored to destabilize his administration.
Wike was appointed FCT Minister in 2023 by President Bola Tinubu.
After the appointment and the contractors’ tabling of their bills for payment, there has been no love lost between the Minister and the former who claimed they executed the jobs mostly during the life of his administration and deserved their pay.
On Wednesday, his accusation of being paid agents instantly drew further ire of the contractors, many of whom raised their voices in disagreement, with an unidentified elderly contractor, frequently interrupting as the Minister ripped into them.
Virtually shutting down the Minister’s speech, the elderly contractor told him that at 75, he (contractor) was too old for anyone to use him for any negative purpose, insisting that they were compelled to resort to public protests due to the dire socio-economic situation they found themselves in as a result of non-payment of the contract debts.
Pointing a finger at the Minister, he informed him, in case he did not know, that his situation was so bad that he borrowed the sum of N5000 to pay for transportation to the protest venue, adding that the indebtedness to him has caused horrific turmoil in his home and affected all aspects of life such as feeding, battle with banks that lent him money to execute the contract, payment of children’s school fees and others.
The obviously irate contractor urged Wike to approve their payments as relevant officers appointed by him had verified and confirmed long ago that the said contracts were properly awarded, duly procured, and executed to specification.
Exchanging words with the Minister, the contractor dismissed Wike’s claim of their being sponsored, saying all that the contractors were seeking from him was approval to get paid.
As he spoke heatedly, drowning the Minister’s words, voices were heard urging him to allow the Minister conclude his speech.
The confrontation between Minister and contractors did not last more than a couple of minutes as Wike later boarded his vehicle and the convoy zoomed off towards his office complex.
After the Minister’s exit, an admix of dissatisfaction, shock, and anger was evident among the contractors.
Shortly after, Chairman of the association, Mr Adebola Benson Ehuwa, took the microphone and blasted the Minister over the paid agent-and-destabilization claim.
His words: “Minister has come to tell us ‘this is all politics’, that we’ve come to intimidate him.
“This is not what is expected of a public servant. You cannot be coming to intimidate everybody. It’s unfair that you’ve been owing contractors for three years; people that have borrowed money from banks, they’re all in trouble.
“And I say: how can you be owing people working with you? For three good years! And all you’re saying is, they’re playing politics. Everything about this Minister is politics.”
Speaking heatedly, Ehuwa added:”This country belongs to all of us.”
He urged President Tinubu “not to make us feel like” the country is reserved “for some certain people.”
Expressing anger over the indebtedness and the impact on their family and business lives, the Chairman said: “It is unfair, this is unfair and the President must have to do something about it.”
Trajectory Of A Fight For Payment
The contractors had in the past visited institutions and individuals who, they felt, could compel the Minister to pay up.
Among these were the National Assembly and some prominent Nigerians.
They had been invited by both the Department of State Services (DSS) and police hierarchy; done a published open letter in a national daily to President Tinubu; embarked on numerous protests; done media interviews and other legitimate options –yet their payment files reportedly gather dust.
Last year, the House of Representatives called a public hearing on the debt matter, where some leaders of the association made presentations, but FCTA reportedly failed to appear, according to the House, despite notices and invitations forwarded to the Administration.
In the Senate, a six-man ad hoc committee set up last year into the debt has not been able to remedy the matter to date.
Several phone calls put across to Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media to the Minister, Lere Olayinka, today, by People&Politics, to get the Minister’s angle to the confrontation, went unanswered.
Follow-up SMS and Whatsapp messages to him too were not responded to, as of press time.
*PHOTO CAPTION: A cross section of the protesting contractors… Thursday.
