Nyesom Wike wants Nigeria to rewind the tape.
Two days after a video showed him loudly telling a naval officer “You are a big fool” in Abuja, the FCT minister has come out swinging with a clarification: he never called the man a fool.
Speaking to journalists at his Life Camp residence on November 13, Wike said his words were twisted.
“I did not call the naval officer a fool,” he insisted, voice firm. “What I said was that you can't be carrying out an illegal order. That's what I meant… I didn't say military fool, I couldn't have said that!”
He explained that the real issue was the land itself, allegedly grabbed by retired Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo and not the lieutenant standing there.
“The young man was only obeying orders,” Wike continued, “but the order itself was wrong. I was correcting the situation, not insulting the officer.”
Yet the viral clip tells another story. In the footage from Gaduwa District, Wike is heard clearly: “You are a fool… shut up… you are a big fool.” Lieutenant A.M. Yerima calmly replies each time, “I am an officer sir, I am not a fool.”
Many Nigerians aren’t buying the new explanation.
Social media users quickly turned “I did not call him a fool” into fresh memes, while others asked why the minister needed three days to rephrase a sentence heard by millions.
Even Wike’s defenders admit the clarification came only after retired General Tukur Buratai slammed him publicly and demanded an apology to the entire armed forces.
For now, the minister is sticking to his script: no personal insult was intended, no apology is coming, and the land revocation stands.
But in a country where every phone is a camera, one thing is clear, words once shouted in anger are hard to take back, no matter how they are later explained.
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