In a fiery tweet today, former Chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Prof. Chidi Odinkalu hit back at Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike over the minister’s recent disparaging comments.

At an event yesterday unveiling the N10 billion FCT Renewed Hope programme, Wike took a swipe at Odinkalu, saying the human rights lawyer did not have an exemplary record during his tenure as NHRC Chairman from 2011-2015. “Ask them, what was their performance? What was the record when government gave him opportunity to be there, zero,” Wike stated.

“Someone showed me a write up they said was written by a professor. I asked him professor of which university? Nobody knows.

Responding on Twitter, Odinkalu pulled no punches, tweeting “One more thing, unlike @GovWike, I have a life outside messing about with the #PublicPurse. I left @NhrcNigeria 9 yrs ago & I have no interest or desire to maintain “structure” there. A greedy glutton has no business giving lectures on the virtues of being teetotal!”

The former NHRC Chair seemed to be referencing allegations of misuse of public funds that have long dogged Wike. As Governor of Rivers State from 2015-2023, Wike faced accusations of diverting state resources for personal gain and patronage, though he has consistently denied wrongdoing.

Odinkalu’s tweet also alluded to Wike’s reputation as a boisterous, unrestrained political operator. “Wike is flexing,” Odinkalu wrote in an earlier tweet. “He is a #LifeBencher inebriated on substance which may or may not be just power. He can buy whomsoever he wants with public money to do whatever he desires. But even that has a shelf-life. This idiocy will end one day too.”

The war of words marks the latest clash between the two public figures, who have long been at odds over matters of governance, human rights and the rule of law in Nigeria. With Wike now overseeing the nation’s capital as FCT Minister, and Odinkalu an outspoken voice from his perch as a widely-respected activist and intellectual, their feud shows no signs of abating anytime soon.

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