Lere Olayinka, senior special assistant on public communications to Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, has clarified that his principal’s controversial comment about Channels Television presenter Seun Okinbaloye was figurative.
Gatekeepers News reports that the clarification followed remarks made by Wike during a media chat, where he reacted strongly to Okinbaloye’s comments on a recent edition of Politics Today.
The journalist had raised concerns about Nigeria potentially drifting toward a one-party system ahead of the 2027 elections, citing developments within the African Democratic Congress.
Reacting at the time, Wike said, “I was surprised yesterday, thoroughly surprised. When I was watching Politics Today, Seun. If there was any way to break the screen, I would have shot him.”
In a statement issued on Saturday, Olayinka explained that the minister’s words were delivered in a hyperbolic context and should not be interpreted as a threat. He disclosed that both Wike and Okinbaloye had already spoken over the phone, with the journalist understanding the intent behind the comment.
Olayinka further argued that the remark had been misrepresented, saying critics were turning it into an “instrument of blackmail and propaganda by those whose intent is to misrepresent facts for their political gains”.
“The minister never meant that he will shoot Seun Okinbaloye. They even spoke on the phone today, and he (Okinbaloye) understood what the minister meant,” the statement reads.
He added that Wike’s frustration stemmed from his perception that the journalist abandoned neutrality during the programme, stating, “What the minister meant, which he made clear during the media chat, was that he was angry seeing Okinbaloye, whom he holds in high esteem as a journalist, descending into the political arena by speaking as an interested party, instead of an interviewer.”
Olayinka emphasised that the comment was purely figurative, explaining: “The statement made by the minister was in hyperbolic context, which was clearly without intent. It was primarily using exaggeration to make a point.”
He also noted that the minister had already clarified his position during the live broadcast, adding: “Even after the Minister made the clarifications on the live television program, which had Chamberlain Uzor, Head of Channels Television’s Abuja Office as part of the interviewers, all the journalists who were interviewing him just laughed.”
He concluded by warning against misinterpretation of the comment, stating: “Therefore, after the minister detailed explanations of what he meant, including saying on the live television program that he didn’t mean that he will carry gun and shoot the television anchor, it will become a clear hatchet job for any individual or group to pick the statement out of context and make any issue out of it.”
