Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike has reignited a bitter chapter from Nigeria's turbulent 2019 elections, publicly naming retired Major General Jamil Sarham as the military officer who allegedly ordered his assassination during the Rivers State governorship polls.
In a bombshell interview on Channels Television aired Thursday, Wike claimed Sarham, then General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 6th Division in Port Harcourt, was "bought" by his political rival, former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi, and now works in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), prompting Wike to boycott a recent security briefing there out of lingering safety fears.
The revelation, delivered with Wike's characteristic bluntness, has thrust the decade-old feud back into the spotlight, blending personal vendetta with broader questions about military impartiality in elections.
"In 2019, a GOC called General Sarham—I hear he works with NSA now—the man was bought. He didn't see me as a sitting governor when he came to Rivers State," Wike recounted, his voice steady but edged with resentment.
He accused Sarham of transforming the 6th Division headquarters into an "INEC office" to rig the vote in Amaechi's favor, likening the federal incursion to "what is happening now in Gaza."
Wike's most explosive charge: Sarham directly ordered his shooting. "General Sarham ordered that I should be shot. That's why, when I heard he's in NSA office, I refused going there again," the minister stated, adding a dramatic twist about the botched plot.
"The officer he sent to shoot me refused, and he detained him for six months."
Wike framed the incident as part of a larger conspiracy, alleging Amaechi dangled the Chief of Army Staff position to Sarham as bait.
"Rotimi Amaechi promised to make him the next Chief of Army Staff," he claimed, painting a picture of high-level corruption that allegedly turned the military into a political weapon.
Sarham, who succeeded as the 29th Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in 2020 after Major General A. Oyebade (retd.), has a storied career marked by controversy.
Appointed GOC in 2018 amid the Niger Delta's oil theft and militancy issues, he quickly clashed with Wike, then Rivers governor.
The 2019 elections in Rivers was a bloodbath: Over 20 deaths, including NYSC members, were reported, with INEC halting voting amid violence and bias allegations against federal forces favoring the APC.
Wike, a PDP stalwart, accused Sarham's troops of cordoning his residence on February 15, 2019, ahead of rescheduled polls, calling it a prelude to murder.
The Nigerian Army vehemently denied these claims at the time, labeling them "bogus and unsubstantiated" in a February 23, 2019, statement from spokesman Col. Sagir Musa. "The NA does not train assassins," it read, challenging Wike to produce evidence of meetings with Sarham beyond a public Armed Forces Remembrance Day parade on January 15, 2019.
In a counterpunch, the Army accused Wike of offering Sarham "billions of naira" to compromise the election, a narrative it reiterated in May 2019 amid Wike's separate oil bunkering allegations against the general.
A coalition of human rights groups later exonerated Sarham, urging Rivers State to halt its "campaign of character assassination."
Sarham's post-retirement role in the ONSA, led by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu since 2023, remains unconfirmed officially, but Wike's disclosure has fueled speculation about internal security dynamics under President Bola Tinubu's administration—where Wike serves as a key ally despite PDP ties.
Skipping the ONSA meeting, Wike said, was non-negotiable: "I refused to go there" upon learning of Sarham's involvement.
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Wike is a blatant liar
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