Ire, awkwardness, surprise amongst many reactions of Nigerians as Wike orders new Perm Secs to bow before Tinubu

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, Nyesom Wike, last week, drew the ire of Nigerians during the commissioning of a road named after Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, when he ordered some newly appointed Permanent Secretaries to bow before President Bola Tinubu.

The FCT minister once again stirred the pot as he ordered the new Permanent Secretaries to bow before President Tinubu in appreciation of their appointment, saying that the Permanent Secretaries had lost hope of rising to the peak of their career, and should therefore be grateful and appreciative that President Tinubu had helped them to attain that height.

“Most of them have never dreamt in their lives that they will ever get to the peak of their careers. That is very important; not just the infrastructure every day.

“So, if you permit me, I don’t know those beneficiaries; I don’t know whether the Permanent Secretaries are here. Come out, come out.

“You are the beneficiary here; you are supposed to be the agents of the Renewed Hope Agenda, come out.

“Both women and men, everyone; face here and take a bow before Mr. President; you are the lucky ones. Your Excellency, these are the first set of permanent secretaries that you made.

“Head of service, are you not a permanent secretary? And that is their head of service. These are the technical teams now that we have. So I want to sincerely thank you,” Wike said at the event.

Wike also said most of the Permanent Secretaries had been visiting churches and mosques, praying for the new position.

He added that they should be happy that God has answered their prayer and that they could only express their gratitude by bowing down before the President through whom their prayers were answered.

“Now, most of them have been going to churches and mosques. They have been praying that God should help them to be head of service. But it was not there before.

“For them to be head of service, it was not available. But now, you have made it available. I know some of their pastors who have been praying for them.

“So, I also told them that they should pray for me to recommend them to you. That is also very important.

“Your Excellency, this road was awarded in 2020. In fact, this is the fastest; not the one that was awarded 15 or 16 years ago.

“It was awarded in 2020 at the cost of N30.6 billion, and luckily, this is the one that has never had variations,” he said.

On March 12, Tinubu appointed Atang Samuel as head of the civil service in the FCT. He also appointed some permanent secretaries in the FCT.

The permanent secretaries were Adam Babagana (North-East), Wanki Adamu Ibrahim (North-East), Asmau Mukhtar (North-West), Dogo Bodinga (North-West), Olusa Olusegun (South-West), Adetoyi Rabiu Kolawole (South-West), Grace Adayilo (North-Central), Olubunmi Olowookere (North-Central), Ibe Prospect Chukwuemeka (South-east), and Okonkwo Florence Nonubari (South-south)

However, while some Nigerians saw Wike’s action as a joke and laughed over it, others saw it as a serious insult on the sensibilities of not only the permanent secretaries involved, but also on the entire country.