‘I didn’t mean it literally; it was an exaggeration’ — Wike backtracks on threat to shoot Seun Okinbaloye

Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has clarified his recent comments about Seun Okinbaloye of Channels Television.

Wike had earlier sparked controversy after saying he would have “broken his TV screen and shot” Okinbaloye over remarks suggesting that a one-party system could undermine Nigeria’s democracy. The comment drew widespread criticism, with Amnesty International describing it as “reckless and violent.”

However, in a statement issued on Saturday by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, the minister clarified that his remarks were not meant to be taken literally.

According to the statement, Wike and Okinbaloye have since spoken by phone, and the journalist understood the context of the comment. Olayinka explained that the minister was expressing frustration, noting that he holds Okinbaloye in high regard but felt he had crossed into partisan commentary rather than maintaining neutrality as an interviewer.

He further described the remark as hyperbolic—an exaggeration used to emphasize a point—without any real intent of violence. Olayinka added that Wike had already clarified this during the live television interview, where journalists present reportedly treated the comment with levity.

The statement released by Olayinka on Saturday read: “The minister never meant that he will shoot Seun Okinbaloye. They even spoke on phone today, and he (Okinbaloye) understood what the minister meant.

“What the minister meant, which he made clear during the media chat was that he was angry seeing Okinbaloye, whom he hold in high esteem as a journalist, descending into the political arena by speaking as an interested party, instead of an interviewer.

“The statement made by the minister was in hyperbolic context, which was clearly without intent. It was primarily using exaggeration to make a point.

“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.

“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.

“The public is therefore urged to discontenance the use of the comment as instrument of blackmail and propaganda by those whose intent is to misrepresent facts for their political gains.”