"Do Not Politicise This," Said the Minister Whose Children Study in the UK. VDM and Sowore Had Responses.

"Do Not Politicise This," Said the Minister Whose Children Study in the UK. VDM and Sowore Had Responses.

On the morning of Tuesday, June 2, 2026, teachers from across Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory marched peacefully to the FCT Administration Secretariat in Abuja. They carried placards. They chanted. They delivered a letter demanding urgent measures to secure schools, protect teachers, and bring the perpetrators of the Oyo and Borno school abductions to justice.

It was eighteen days since gunmen stormed three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State and took 40 pupils and seven teachers. One teacher, Michael Oyedokun, had been beheaded in captivity. Eighty-two children and teachers across Oyo and Borno were still unaccounted for.

FCT Minister Nyesom Wike came out to address them. What he said generated more national conversation than almost any other statement made by a government official since the abductions began.

What Wike Said, Word for Word

Wike told the protesters that the government shared their concerns and that security agencies were actively working to secure the release of the victims.

"We are all concerned about this security situation. The government is on its toes to ensure that those who are kidnapped are rescued," he said, according to multiple media outlets including Channels Television, Punch Newspapers, and Daily Post Nigeria.

He added: "There is no government that will deliberately say let citizens be kidnapped, but we know where we found ourselves and we know that everything possible is being done."

He expressed confidence in Nigeria's security institutions. "I have that confidence that the security system will do all they can to make sure the teachers and the students who are being kidnapped are rescued, and let it be prompt," he said.

Then came the statement that set off the reaction.

Wike told the teachers that insecurity should not be viewed through regional or political lenses and cautioned them against making the crisis a political issue. "We are all concerned, but let us not politicise issues. That is what I will not support," he said.

He concluded with a call for solidarity. "What concerns you concerns everybody, and what concerns Abuja also concerns everybody. We are all looking at how people should rise up with the same dedication."

What VDM Said in Response

Social media activist VeryDarkMan, in a video circulated on June 2, addressed Wike's statement directly.

He said he would not blame Wike for what he described as a "careless statement," arguing that Wike fundamentally cannot understand the pain the parents of the abducted children are going through because of his own personal circumstances.

VDM's argument, as conveyed in his video, was as follows: Wike took his own children out of Nigeria to study in the United Kingdom, away from the insecurity, the bad roads, the power cuts, the inadequate medical facilities, and the dysfunction that millions of ordinary Nigerian parents cannot escape. A man who shielded his own family from all of that, VDM argued, is not positioned to tell those same ordinary Nigerians not to make their suffering political.

"Wike took his kids far away from the insecurity and insurgency of Nigeria to another country where the government provides security for their citizens," VDM said. "He took his kids to study in a country where they have good roads, water, electricity, access to good medical facilities. This is why he would downplay the insecurity issues currently going on and narrow it down to politics."

VDM also issued a direct warning to Wike, saying in Pidgin English: "Wike know this today, this power when dey catch you get end, and we will be here for it."

Neither VDM's allegation about where Wike's children were educated nor the minister's response to those specific claims had been publicly confirmed or denied by Wike's office as of the time of publication. Wike has not publicly addressed VDM's video.

What Sowore Said, at the Same Protest

VDM was not the only prominent Nigerian voice to respond to Wike's statement. Human rights activist and politician Omoyele Sowore was physically present at the protest in Abuja on June 2.

Standing among the protesting teachers, Sowore called Wike a "foolish man" over the minister's remarks about politicisation, according to Sahara Reporters.

Sowore used the occasion to demand the resignations of both President Tinubu and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde over the ongoing insecurity.

He also widened the scope of the conversation beyond Oyo State. "Because what most people don't understand is that a lot of kids are kidnapped across the country. In Borno State, Katsina State, in Kaduna State. There are people kidnapped in Ekiti State that have not been rescued for months," he told those gathered.

Sowore argued that the government's framing of insecurity as something that must not be politicised was itself a political act, one designed to neutralise accountability rather than to encourage national unity.

The Context: What the NUT Said About the Protests

The nationwide teacher protests on June 2 were not spontaneous. They were formally organised by the Nigeria Union of Teachers, which directed its members in every state capital to march to their respective government houses and present demands for better security around public schools.

NUT FCT Chairman Abdullahi Shafa addressed the rally in Abuja before Wike appeared. He said the protests were acting on direct instructions from the union's national headquarters. "Teachers do not deserve this kind of treatment. Even those who engage in kidnapping should understand that targeting teachers is unacceptable. We are spread across every part of this country. Go to any nook and cranny of Nigeria and you will find teachers there," he said.

Shafa also noted that attacks on teachers and students cut off educational access in rural communities, many of which have no alternative institutions. "When you resort to kidnapping teachers, you are effectively denying people in the rural areas access to education."

The NUT had separately directed public school teachers in Oyo State to begin an indefinite strike from June 1, a directive that followed a separate call by VDM on May 31 for teachers nationwide to stay home in solidarity until the abductees were freed. Whether those two calls were coordinated or coincidental, they produced the same outcome: schools across Oyo State remained largely shut on June 1 and June 2.

The Broader Question Wike's Statement Raised

The specific phrase that cut through everything Wike said was his warning not to politicise insecurity.

The argument being made against that framing, by VDM, Sowore, and a significant volume of public reaction on Nigerian social media, follows a particular logic. When a government minister tells citizens not to politicise a crisis involving missing schoolchildren, beheaded teachers, and 18 consecutive days without a rescue, the word "politicise" is doing a very specific kind of work. It is asking citizens to suspend their accountability instincts. To treat a failure of governance as something that should be grieved quietly rather than argued loudly.

VDM's response added a personal dimension that resonated widely. His point was not merely that Wike was wrong. It was that Wike could afford to be unbothered, because the systemic failures he was asking teachers and parents to not politicise had never personally landed on his own children. That is a different kind of accusation, and it is one that does not require a legal finding to land.

Wike, for his part, said on the record that the government is on its toes, that security agencies have the capacity and the will to secure the victims, and that Nigerians should approach the crisis with solidarity rather than division.

The victims have been in captivity for 18 days. The parents are still waiting.

What the Numbers Say

At least 82 pupils and teachers were abducted between May 13 and 15, 2026, across Oyo and Borno states. In Borno, 42 pupils were taken after armed groups attacked schools in Askira-Uba and Chibok Local Government Areas. In Oyo, 40 pupils and seven teachers were abducted from three schools in Oriire Local Government Area.

One teacher, Michael Oyedokun, was killed in captivity. A motorcyclist and a security operative were also killed during initial rescue efforts.

As of June 2, 2026, no confirmed rescue has been announced. The NUT strike in Oyo State is ongoing. Nationwide solidarity protests took place in every state capital. The FCT Minister addressed protesters and warned against politicising the issue.

The children are still missing.