At the 21st All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC) in Abuja, former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (rtd), weighed in on the recent confrontation between FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and a Naval Officer, Lt. A.M. Yerima, over a disputed plot of land in Abuja. Irabor emphasized that the military uniform is not just an attire but it symbolizes the authority and sovereignty of the Nigerian state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe uniform is not about who is wearing it, rather it represents the authority of the state,\u201d Irabor stated. \u201cWhether it\u2019s a young officer or a senior one, when you make disparaging remarks or act against them, you are in fact insulting the state itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Irabor\u2019s remarks come amid a national debate over the legality and propriety of deploying serving military personnel to guard the private property allegedly linked to retired Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Wike has defended his actions as a stand against impunity and illegal land development, Irabor warned that confrontations with uniformed officers risk undermining respect for state institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further suggested that Wike\u2019s outburst amounted to \u201can offence against the state,\u201d urging public officials to exercise restraint and uphold the dignity of state symbols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Responding to Irabor\u2019s comments, a prominent international attorney, Asukwo Mendie Archibong Esq., defended the principle of civilian control over the military, calling it \u201cnon-negotiable\u201d and \u201cthe hallmark of democracy.\u201d He argued that military personnel must not be drawn into civil disputes or issued unlawful orders by their superiors. He further emphasized that the Supreme Court in several settled cases indicated and unlawful order is ilegal. Archibong also clarified that Wike did not physically assault any officer, and acted within his legal authority as custodian of all lands in the Federal Capital Territory. An authority delegated to him by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He urged Gen. Irabor, (rtd), to exercise greater restraint in his public commentaries to avoid inflaming the already heightened tension in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The incident has reignited broader questions about civilian – military relations, the sanctity of public office, and the limits of state authority in Nigeria\u2019s democratic framework.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the 21st All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC) in Abuja, former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (rtd), weighed in on the recent confrontation between FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and a Naval Officer, Lt. A.M. Yerima, over a disputed plot of land in Abuja. Irabor emphasized that the military uniform is not just an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":24214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,458,3,1138],"tags":[1313,733],"class_list":["post-24200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-legal","category-naija-news","category-politics","tag-civiliancontrol","tag-ruleoflaw"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/General-Lucky-Irabor-rtd.webp?fit=412%2C286&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24215,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24200\/revisions\/24215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}