Lere Olayinka, a spokesperson for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, says the statement threatening violence against Seun Okinbaloye was an exaggeration.
Mr Wike, during a media briefing on Friday, said, “I was surprised yesterday; thoroughly surprised when I was watching Politics Today, Seun; if there was any way to break the screen, I would have shot him and commit murder.”
The minister was referring to Mr Okinbaloye’s comments on Thursday about Nigeria becoming a one-party state due to the prolonged internal crisis within some major opposition political parties.
Mr Olayinka, in a statement on Saturday, said the minister had been quoted out of context and described the statement as hyperbolic.
He said, “The Minister never meant that he will shoot Seun Okinbaloye. They even spoke on the phone today, and he (Okinbaloye) understood what the minister meant. The statement made by the Minister was in a hyperbolic context, which was clearly without intent. It was primarily using exaggeration to make a point.
“What the minister meant, which he made clear during the media chat, was that he was angry seeing Okinbaloye, whom he holds in high esteem as a journalist, descending into the political arena by speaking as an interested party, instead of an interviewer.”
Mr Olayinka berated individuals or groups who interpreted the statement out of context.
“The public is therefore urged to discountenance the use of the comment as an instrument of blackmail and propaganda by those whose intent is to misrepresent facts for their political gains,” he added.