By Desire Emmanuel
Following the face-off between the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike and a Naval officer, Lieutenant Ahmad Yerima, over a parcel of land said to belong to the former Chief of Naval Staff, Air Vice Marshal Auwal Gambo, many conventional and online media were awash with reports that the young naval officer is the son of another retired army officer, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima.
However, available information from sources close to the retired Army General points to the contrary. While Brigadier General Yerima is from Bade Local Government Area of Yobe State, the same local government as former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, Lieutenant Yerima, on the other hand, is from Gujba Local Government Area of the same state, where the current state governor, Mai Mala Buni, is from.
According to the sources, the two local governments are about 75 kilometres from each other, adding that though they share the same surname, they have no biological relationship at all.
Interestingly, Lieutenant Yerima was born in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and when Wike remarked that Yerima was in primary school when he completed his degree course, he didn’t realise that the young man was actually living with him in the same state.
The sources added that when Wike graduated from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology in 1997 with a Bachelor of Law degree, Lieutenant Yerima was around five years old, likely attending primary school in Port Harcourt. It’s however not clear when Yerima’s parents relocated to Kaduna.
