The troubles confronting immediate past governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chief Nyesom Wike appears unending as he battles them frontally like a besieged commander.
Smarting out of the impeachment saga in his home state of Rivers, where he’s embroiled in a political supremacy battle with his political godson successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara to a victory at the National Industrial Court on Tuesday where he successfully obtained an injunction against striking workers in the FCT.
President Tinubu
But the Court of Appeal has turned that victory into a pyrrhic one as it has today, Thursday January 29, 2026 overturned the decision of the lower Court that granted that injunction. The Court granted a stay of execution order and adjourned for full hearing of the matter.
The Court of Appeal’s intervention has effectively nullified the National Industrial Court’s order that would have compelled workers to return to work, allowing the strike to continue legally pending the determination of the substantive appeal.
Indeed, some of the workers had actually resumed work from the strike in obedience to the Court injunction and Wike’s directive that workers who failed to resume would be sanctioned. But the recent Court of Appeal decision has strengthened their resolve to continue with the industrial action.
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So, the workers under the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC) of the FCT today resumed their indefinite strike over unresolved welfare issues, following a Court of Appeal order staying the execution of the National Industrial Court’s injunction against the strike.
This development came after JUAC leaders, through their counsel led by Femi Falana, SAN, successfully obtained an order from the Court of Appeal staying the execution of the National Industrial Court’s January 27, 2026 ruling that had directed workers to suspend their strike.
In a ruling delivered on January 28, 2026, the Court of Appeal in Abuja granted a stay of execution of the National Industrial Court’s interlocutory injunction pending the determination of the appeal filed by Rifkatu Iortyer and Abdullahi Umar Saleh, President and Secretary of JUAC respectively.
The National Industrial Court in Abuja had, in its ruling delivered on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, by Hon. Justice E.D. Subilim granted an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants (JUAC leaders) and all members of the Joint Unions Action Committee, comprising all Trade Unions involving employees of the FCT Administration from embarking on any industrial action.
The injunction specifically restrained them from “further embarking on any industrial action, strike, picketing, lock-out, or any other form of disruption against the Claimant/Applicants and their heads of Departments, Parastatals, and Political Appointees.”
Chief Wike
The order included actions aimed at “crippling operation, blocking roads, obstructing the flow of vehicular movements, shutting down operations of the Claimants/Applicants, or by any means frustrating the businesses/activities of the 2nd Claimants/Applicants.”
The strike, which originally began on January 19, 2026 was briefly suspended following the National Industrial Court’s ruling on January 27, but resumed after the Court of Appeal granted the stay of execution on Thursday.
Other troubles awaiting the Minister include the reported submission of damning reports against him to the president by different organs of the party, including the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) and the National Executive Committee (NEC) as well as the National Security Adviser (NSA).
