The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) have strongly criticised the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, for openly declaring his plan to lead President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign.
During a media briefing in Abuja on Monday, Wike described himself as a significant asset in Tinubu’s 2027 election campaign.
The former Rivers State governor also stated that he was not involved in any anti-party activity, challenging the PDP to suspend him if they thought otherwise.
Speaking on Monday during a media parley in Abuja, Wike said, “I am still in the PDP. I worked hard for the party. I have not seen anybody who has the guts to tell me, ‘Wike, you are not a member of the party.’ Who is that? What is his contribution to the party that is more than mine?”
Wike mentioned that the PDP violated the agreement for a southern candidacy for president and supported former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, hence his refusal to endorse the party’s 2023 presidential candidate.
“In 2023, did I not tell you that I wouldn’t support their presidential candidate? I said, based on equity, justice, and fairness, the presidency should go to the South because you can’t have that and the national chairman at the same time.
“You, therefore, take one and give us one. Believing that Atiku would win, they said to hell with it, and I said I was not going to support it.
“So, why didn’t I leave the party and join APC? Of all of us then and PDP governors today, who produces the National Assembly 100 per percent?? Who produced a governor? Ask them in their various states how many senators they have,” he said.
Wike referred to himself as a valued asset, underlining his crucial role in achieving Tinubu’s re-election in the 2027 general elections.
“I am not a liability; I am an asset. Whether you agree or you don’t agree, I am an asset. Whether you want to die or you don’t want to die, I am an asset. It doesn’t matter; you may not like me. I am an asset to making sure that Tinubu wins his second term,” Wike boasted.
The former Rivers governor also discussed the PDP’s chances in 2027, claiming that the party has a leadership crisis, which is responsible for enormous defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress, notably in Delta State and Akwa Ibom.
“It’s a party leadership problem. Look at it. You won’t tell me that they didn’t have intelligence that Delta would go. You won’t tell me that they didn’t have intelligence that Akwa Ibom would go.
“Now, as the leadership, what would you do? Send a team. Ask them, ‘Why are you doing this?’ No, you’re making a mistake. Impunity; let them go. Look, the opposition does not do impunity. No, no, no, we try to beg, beg. Put everybody together. You don’t say, Let them go. Let me tell you, I cannot do that,” the minister insisted.
In reaction, the NNPP National Publicity Secretary, Ladipo Johnson, called on the PDP to bring its members under control.
Johnson stated that it is Nigerians, who have been enduring hardship, who will ultimately determine Tinubu’s fate in the 2027 election, not Wike.
He stated, “Well, it has long been obvious that the minister for the Federal Capital Territory is not a member or a leader of the opposition. It has been obvious to all Nigerians.
“It is high time the PDP whipped its members, like Wike, into line to adopt the position of the party. But if the party is that weak, as the leader of the opposition party, to do that, then it is obvious they cannot play their role and lead the opposition.
“On his plan to lead President Tinubu’s campaign, I have always said it: 2027 does not have much to do with the decision of the politicians. In 2027, the question for the Nigerian people will be whether they are better off now than they were in January 2023. That would be the golden question, and it will be left to the people to decide.
“So, no matter the endorsements or what have you, the elections are what will count. And from the hardship Nigerians are going through, it is obvious that this government will be voted out.”
