Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has ruled out contesting against President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, noting that he values loyalty and integrity above personal ambition.
Wike made this known during his monthly media chat in Abuja on Monday, while also criticising former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, over his promise to serve only one term if elected president.
According to Wike, such promises are unrealistic and misleading, as political realities often change after assuming office.
“It’s very clear what El-Rufai said: stop saying you will run for four years. It’s not correct. I don’t want people to be deceived. Circumstances will change,” Wike said.
“How do you sit down and a president tells you, ‘I will run for four years,’ then you believe him? How can you say that? When you get there, you will now find out if you will run for a second or third term. Some people even tried to run for a third term.”
He dismissed Obi’s political prospects ahead of 2027, insisting that the momentum he enjoyed in 2023 cannot be repeated.
“This era of social media, which party will he run under? Is it Labour? Where will he get the six million votes? Under the PDP? Under Labour Party? If you are running, people should know the party you are running on,” Wike said.
“They should know the platform. Is it December that he will mention it? Atiku has said he will run in the ADC, Amaechi said ADC, but he has not said where he will run. Why are you keeping your supporters guessing?”
The minister firmly ruled out any plan to run for president in 2027, saying it would be a betrayal of the president who appointed him.
“I will not run. I have integrity, I have character. There is no way my appointer is there, and we are saying he should run, and then I turn around and say I should run,” Wike declared.
He emphasised that his decision is based on principle, not politics, and added that without his efforts, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have collapsed.
“I have said if we don’t love PDP, by now you won’t be hearing that name. I don’t need to be a governor for me to do what I want to do,” he said.
“No opposition party can survive when they have a serious crisis. The duty of the opposition party is to see whatever way they can solve their problem, and it’s not by being arrogant and doing impunity.”
Leave a Reply