Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike yesterday made his position known on many national issues, such as the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the 2027 presidential election and the crisis between him and suspended Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Fielding questions from a group of journalists on a special television programme in Abuja, Wike pledged to lead President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 reelection campaign in Rivers State.
He reacted to the “I am hungry” comment by his predecessor and immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.
Amaechi made the remark last week during his 60th birthday celebration.
On the 2027 election, Wike said: “I am not a liability. I am an asset, whether you agree or not. I will ensure that President Tinubu wins a second term, and I will lead the campaign in Rivers.”
The minister offered a challenge to the coalition forces, saying: “Let them form their coalition and start from Rivers. We’ll be waiting.”
He recalled that he was instrumental in making the PDP a dominant political force in the country, adding that he has the right to support any candidate of his choice.
Wike rejected the allegations of anti-party activities by PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) member Chief Bode George and Amaechi, saying he remains a political “asset,” and not a liability.
He stressed: “I built PDP into a political force. I did not play anti-party politics in 2023.”
Wike defended his legacy in the PDP, arguing that his efforts in Rivers and across the country made the party gain national relevance.
He said: “Bode George said PDP gave me a national profile, and I agree. But the party doesn’t make you win elections; it is your commitment that does.
“Ask Bode George what PDP has achieved in Lagos since 1999.
“I have campaigned, built, and defended the party to make it a strong political force.”
Wike dismissed George’s remarks about the recent sealing of the PDP’s national secretariat by the FCT authorities due to unpaid ground rent.
He said: “If an elderly man has no job, he should sit at home and read his newspapers.”
The minister also rejected George’s advice that he should pay the rent as a PDP chieftain, stressing that neither he nor the PDP could pay it because the building was not registered in their names.
He stressed: “I cannot pay because it is not in my name. They cannot pay because it is not in their name.”
Wike said his support for President Tinubu in 2023 was based on principles of equity, justice, and fairness.
He insisted that the PDP leadership violated the internal agreement to support a Southern presidential candidate.
Wike said: “In 2023, I said I wouldn’t support Atiku Abubakar because it was wrong to have both the presidential candidate and the national chairman come from the North. I stood on that principle.
“If I were playing anti-party, how come Rivers State delivered the PDP governorship, Senate, and House of Representatives seats 100 per cent?”
Wike said other PDP leaders, including George, quietly supported the Labour Party (LP), wondering why he had remained the target of criticism.
Recalling his warning to George about his support for the LP candidate, he said: “I told George, Obi couldn’t win, and I was right.”
‘Amaechi hungry for power’
Wike took a swipe at Amaechi over his comment that he became hungry due to the worsening economic conditions.
Amaechi had said: “We’re all hungry, all of us are. If you’re not hungry, I am. For us, the opposition, if you want us to remove the man in power, we can remove him from this power.”
However, the FCT minister said Amaechi is claiming to be hungry because he is no more in power.
He said: “Amaechi is not hungry for food; he is hungry for power. He was Speaker from 1999 to 2007, governor from 2007 to 2015, and minister from 2015 to 2023. He never talked about hunger until now.”
Wike accused Amaechi of attempting to manipulate public sentiment, saying: “From 1999 to 2023, he was in power. He is only angry because he can’t stay out of power. He trivialises national hardship and makes it about himself.”
The minister also chided Amaechi over his call for the removal of the President, saying that such language is reminiscent of a dictatorship and akin to a military coup.
Wike said: “I don’t know how a man will choose his 60th birthday to tell lies. It’s unfortunate. Of all time, it’s your 60th birthday, when people are celebrating you, that you chose to tell lies to Nigerians. You are hungry.
“Let us tell ourselves this. He was Speaker from 1999 to 2007, and if anybody knows, he was the most pompous Speaker. Then, he was reading law in London as a Speaker from 1999 to 2007. He became a governor – 2007 to 2015; he was still reading law in London. Eight years as Speaker of the Rivers State Assembly, eight years as governor – he never talked about hunger.
“He became a minister from 2015 to 2023, eight years, super minister of transportation, where you are borrowing money for Afreximbank, he didn’t talk about hunger.
“Two years, you have left office – ‘I’m in coalition because I’m hungry’. You’re only hungry for power. And that shows failure on his part. How do you look at this? How do you insult Nigerians?
“How do you trivialise the issue of hunger or poverty? Why do you do that? You’re insulting Nigerians. You join Atiku, you join El-Rufai because you are hungry. Have you not insulted Nigerians? It’s just that you can’t stay out of power. That’s hunger. You can’t stay out of power. How would a man who served from 1999 to 2023 stand before Nigerians, who presided over billions of naira…
“This was the same man who, on national television, told Nigerians he doesn’t like money. Meanwhile, the dollar was showing…; you are carrying dollars, and you are telling Nigerians you don’t like money. What kind of country is this? And we are listening to that.
“And you said, he is influential? What is influence? You know, we overrate people. When he was governor in 2015, he couldn’t produce a successor.
“He couldn’t give his candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, a common 25 per cent. He was a sitting minister in 2019 – no president had ever moved with soldiers the way he came with soldiers. He said he produced the governor. He couldn’t produce a candidate.
“Again, in 2023, he came, okay, this time around, I’m going to support Atiku in the PDP. Thank God, we did not support the PDP. If I supported PDP and they won, you would have taken the glory, but we say, okay, we will not support PDP. They failed. They didn’t even get 10 per cent. So, what is his influence?
“Look, I thank God he is in a coalition. I’ve told Nigerians. I don’t like this talking, talking, talking. Let this coalition form a team.
“When you say you will remove, they should start from their home to remove him by making sure the President loses the election.
“How could somebody come out on national television and tell Nigerians: ‘If we want to remove the President, we can.’ Is it a military coup? The word removal means dictatorship in the military.
“You only use the word ‘remove’ when there’s a coup. I would have thought he would say: ‘We will vote him out.’
“Let’s see how he plans to remove the president. Is it through election or some other means?”
Wike clarified his earlier position on backing out of the PDP agreement, saying that he never accused Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde of wrongdoing.
He said: “I never accused Makinde of breaking promises. I only said agreements reached by the G5 were broken.”
The minister recently vacated about 5,000 land titles in Abuja for unpaid fees, of which one of these plots belongs to George.
He said: “Bode George is number 3092 on the list. His land was listed for not paying fees for 10 years. At his level? At his level?”
‘I weep over betrayal by Fubara’
Wike said he is moved to tears whenever he reflects on the “betrayal” by suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The minister said Fubara offered himself as a “tool” for those who wanted to fight him when they could not do so directly.
He said although he played a major role in his emergence as governor, Fubara “betrayed” him by working with those who wanted his downfall.
Wike likened the situation to a son who connived with armed robbers to rob his father.
He said the resolution of the Rivers crisis rests with Fubara, adding that he is ready for reconciliation if the suspended governor wants “genuine peace”.
Wike said: “He (Fubara) gave himself as a tool for those who could not fight me directly. Sometimes, when I go back in my quiet moment, I play the video of the speeches of the governor — what he said and did to me, I weep. Was it necessary?
“This is somebody who brought you, gave you food and everything. Then, you became a tool for his enemies to fight him. We are all humans. When people say there should be peace… Nobody said there should not be peace.
“How will you feel? You know what you passed through by sending your son to school and making him a human being.
“All of a sudden, your son came in with other people, armed with a gun to shoot you. Is it something that you will just forget?
“I have told people who do not understand what betrayal means that they may be betrayed 10 times more than this. That is my prayer.
“I have said I want peace, but you must show that the peace you want is genuine, and you must have taken steps.”
Wike said he was at a loss as to why Fubara was talking about an ongoing peace process in Rivers.
He said Fubara came to him with Governors Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi) and an elder of the APC to discuss peace.
He said since then, he has not seen the suspended governor and he is not aware that he is meeting with the elders in the state and lawmakers.
‘I derive joy stepping on toes of big men’
Wike said he derives joy from stepping on the toes of ‘big men,’ warning that property owners in Abuja who are yet to pay their ground rent must do so or face the music.
He insisted that the PDP must pay the ground rent for its secretariat in the FCT.
The FCT authorities had published the details of 9,000 debtors in newspapers, asking them to pay their ground rents to avoid the risk of forfeiture.
The administration subsequently announced on May 23 that it would take possession of about 5,000 affected properties owing ground rents between 10 and 43 years.
Wike said his predecessors in the FCT, including Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, lacked the courage to compel political bigwigs who own structures in the nation’s capital to pay their annual ground rent.
He said: “Look at what we are doing differently. People have said that FCT was not working. Now, it is working, which means I’m doing things that they refused to do.
“I found out that most of them didn’t have the courage to annoy people, to step on toes, but I take joy when I step on the toes of big men; those who say nothing will happen, but I say something will happen. It makes me happy.
“All they want me to do is to make decisions against only poor people, saying nothing will happen to them (powerful people).
“But I say something will happen. That is why we are making results. If you don’t do the right thing, too bad. I don’t care.”
