Tinubu Must Act on Wike’s Wasteful Media Chat

Prominent human rights lawyer and legal counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately suspend the monthly media briefings hosted by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, calling them as an extravagant misuse of public funds.

In a statement released Tuesday, Ejiofor criticized the media chats as a “grandstanding exercise” that contributes nothing meaningful to public discourse while draining the nation’s limited financial resources. He expressed alarm over reports that hundreds of millions of naira are allocated monthly to finance the televised sessions.

“As millions of Nigerians battle record inflation, stagnant wages, and deepening poverty, it is unconscionable that the FCT Minister spends such vast sums on what amounts to an ostentatious media spectacle,” Ejiofor said.

He argued that the funds spent on a single edition of the media chat could instead provide emergency relief for flood victims in Niger State, refurbish dilapidated schools, or sustain nutrition programs in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps for months.

Calling the practice, a “tone-deaf misuse of public funds,” the lawyer urged President Tinubu to intervene, stop the monthly briefings, and redirect the resources to urgent development priorities.

As of now, neither the Presidency nor the FCT Ministry has responded to the allegations.