2027: Why I Won’t Contest Against Tinubu — Wike

The minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said that he will not contest against President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.

Wike reiterated his commitment to the success of the Tinubu administration even as he explained that the quest for justice was the key reason he and the G-5 group of PDP governors supported the presidential ambition of Tinubu.

The minister, who spoke on a live television programme in Abuja on Friday, also said that good character should never be compromised on the altar of politics.

He pointed out that having worked for the emergence of Tinubu as President and having been made Minister of FCT, nothing would make him contest against the President in 2027.

“Tinube made me the FCT minister and I won’t allow anybody to crumble our political structure. No! Tinubu made me minister, people do not understand, I have character.

“What will happen in 2027? I stood and I said I am not going to support injustice. I was threatened that they will do me this and that. They tried many options including using Major Generals,” he said.

While speaking on the update of his face-off with Governor Siminalayi Fubara of his native Rivers State, the minister, who initially said he did not want to talk about the matter, later said: “Give a man power and money, that is when you will know the person. If you have not given a man power and money, do not say you know the person.

“He may be your friend, he may be your son, sister or mother or father. I don’t want to go into that.”

Wike lamented that Fubara could seek to destroy the structure, which produced him as governor just within three months of his emergence as governor.

“In three months, it is sad for someone to scatter a political structure that supported and bring you up. You know what is painful? All these allegations, I smile. Who and who sat with him. In all your doings, be grateful in your life, no matter the circumstance. Nobody who is a gentleman and a politician will support this kind of thing.”

Wike while speaking on his achievements as governor of Rivers State, said he was paying pensioners’ gratuity every month, which were not paid by his predecessor.

“I took River State to the level where you cannot discuss politics in Nigeria without Rivers State. I was an ordinary minister when I became a governor. I challenged the sitting governor and I defeated his candidate. I worked hard,” Wike stated.