Dr. Oludare Marindoti, Convener of the Social Rehabilitation Grace and Support Initiative, on Thursday, November 13, 2025, has criticized the military’s role in providing security for private citizens.
Speaking during an interview with TVC News from 13:13 on Thursday, November 13, 2025, he focused his commentary on the controversy surrounding Lieutenant A.M. Yerima, the naval officer involved in a highly publicized clash with Minister Nyesom Wike of the Federal Capital Territory.
Marindoti maintained that Lieutenant Yerima is a government employee and that assigning him to fulfill the personal needs of a civilian, even a former Chief of Army Staff, represents a fundamental betrayal of state service.
He emphasized the degrading nature of the officer’s current posting, illustrating the extent of the misuse by pointing out that the officer could potentially be ordered to carry out domestic chores.
He raised the specific instance of Yerima probably being deployed to wash the former official’s car or cloth, or even to sweep his room.
Marindoti argued that no individual, regardless of their past military rank, has the right to commandeer a serving officer for non-official, domestic assignments.
He concluded that the young officer is effectively an unwilling pawn in an oppressive structure, and his presence on the disputed land is in itself a symbol of that oppression.
“Yerima was employed by the Nigerian government and we are allowing him to be deployed for the private need of a civilian. Even if he (Awwal Gambo) was former Chief of Army Staff, he still don’t have the right to deploy him on private things. Yerima probably may be washing his car, cloth or sweeping his room. That is wrong. That boy is a victim of an oppressive system. The fact that he was on the land is oppression,” Marindoti lamented.
Marindoti remarks were a direct response to the dramatic confrontation that occurred two days prior, on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, involving Minister Wike, and Lieutenant Yerima.
The incident occurred at Plot 1946 in Abuja’s Gaduwa District, a property reportedly belonging to a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Awwal Gambo (retd).
The friction began when FCT Administration officials, attempting to execute a demolition order on what they claimed was an illegal structure, were forcibly turned away by armed military personnel.
Minister Wike immediately traveled to the site with a large security and administrative team.
Upon arrival, the minister and his entourage were prevented from accessing the land by the military detail, led by Lieutenant Yerima, who maintained that he was acting on “superior instructions.”
A tense and widely circulated verbal exchange ensued.
The Minister, visibly agitated, repeatedly demanded to see the land title documents and questioned the military’s authority to obstruct a civilian administrative function.
Yerima stood his ground with composure, insisting the development was lawful and that all necessary documents had been forwarded to the relevant FCT authorities.
The confrontation intensified when Wike issued a verbal slight, to which Lieutenant Yerima firmly responded with the phrase, “I am not a fool, sir.”
Despite the near-scuffle that broke out between the respective security details, the situation was diffused, with Wike vowing to continue his campaign against “military intimidation” and land grabbing within the FCT. View, More,
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