Honestly, I get why people are making a big deal about Reuben Abati supposedly begging Wike for money, even though Abati himself totally denied it and said it's just politics and lies. From what I’ve seen, stuff like this can actually mess with how people see journalists, especially in Nigeria where folks are already super skeptical about the media and politicians being a bit too cozy. If people believe that a journalist is taking handouts from someone powerful like Wike, they’ll probably question everything he says on TV.

But since Abati said he never asked Wike for money and even called out the person making the claims for being political, I think it just shows how messy Nigerian politics is. Sometimes politicians and their teams will say wild things to try and drag down their critics. I don’t think this story really changes much for people who already follow Abati, especially since he seems pretty open and even thanked everyone for backing him. But yeah, for sure stuff like this makes it even harder for the public to trust anyone in politics or the media. It’s kinda exhausting but that’s just the way it goes. If you want the real story, you kinda have to pay attention to everything, not just random accusations.