By Charles Pemu 
ABUJA—Following the high-profile confrontation between FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and naval officer Lieutenant A.M. Yerima last week, Wike’s media aide, Lere Olayinka, has taken to social media to share a past story alleging an instance where a naval officer falsely claimed an assassination attempt after being stopped by police for a driving infraction.
Olayinka’s decision to share the anecdote comes hours after the viral clash between Minister Wike and Lt. Yerima over a disputed plot of land in Abuja. While the aide did not explicitly name Lt. Yerima in his new post, the timing suggests an attempt to highlight what he perceives as a pattern of misconduct or deception by military personnel in civil enforcement matters.
The story shared by Olayinka details a scenario where a naval officer was stopped at a police checkpoint for driving an unregistered vehicle without a plate number.
The incident reportedly involved a verbal altercation between the officer and the police personnel. Following the exchange, the officer allegedly reported the stop as an assassination attempt, a claim which the police quickly dismissed. A viral video of that earlier incident reportedly showed the officer being stopped for the unregistered vehicle and having a heated exchange with the police at the checkpoint.
The post by the Minister’s aide appears to serve as commentary on the recent confrontation, reinforcing the FCT Administration’s stance against the alleged impunity of security personnel who obstruct lawful government duties, as Minister Wike has repeatedly claimed.