Boasts, nobody can sack me from PDP
Says Amaechi hungry for power
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike, a card-carrying member of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has said that he will lead the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign in Rivers State for the second term election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Wike, a former Governor of Rivers State, disclosed this yesterday while speaking with newsmen in Abuja. He also boasted that he is an asset to make sure that Tinubu wins his second term election.
“I have told you this thing. Is it because of Asiwaju presidency? Is it what you are talking about? Are you not aware that I will lead the campaign in Rivers State?
“You want me to say no. Are you not aware? It is not hidden. Because I have said the South must produce the president. I came out and said I will support Asiwaju. I did not say I will leave PDP”.
Wike, who was full of assurance that President Bola Tinubu will win the 2027 Presidential election, said he would use his influence to help deliver the election in favour of Tinubu.
“The way we won the other election, that is how we will win. I am not a liability. I am an asset. Whether you agree or you do not, I am an asset. You may not like me, but that does not matter. I am an asset. I am an asset to making sure that Tinubu wins his second tenure”.
Speaking further, Wike lashed out at a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, who had expressed sadness over the sealing of the party’s national secretariat by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
Last on Monday, the FCTA had sealed off the PDP national secretariat in Abuja over an alleged failure to pay ground rent.
The PDP headquarters was shut as part of the enforcement efforts of the FCTA, which recently cancelled 4,794 land titles in Wuse, Maitama, Asokoro, and Garki over “years of unpaid ground rents”.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, George lamented that Wike, who authorized the action, is a member of the PDP who should have paid the debt to show his loyalty to the party.
The PDP BoT member said Wike had occupied several political positions on the platform of the PDP since 1999.
Reacting, Wike said: “I read what he said. If an old man has no job, he should sit down in his house and read his newspapers. Bode George said PDP made me. PDP gave me a national name, I agree. But the party cannot make you. You are the one to make the party popular to win elections.
“A party cannot say we are popular. It is individuals who make the party popular. Look at it this way. I agree the PDP made me. Ask Bode George. Who did the PDP make in Lagos?
“If it is the party that makes, who has the party made in Lagos since 1999? Not one house of assembly. Not one house of reps. Not the Senate. Not anything.
“And then you are talking to me, who has campaigned and worked for the party to be the major party in the State and at the national level. Meanwhile, in your own State, that party has never won anything.”
The former Rivers State Governor stressed that past FCT Ministers lacked the courage to compel political bigwigs who own structures in the nation’s capital to pay their annual ground rent. He insisted that the PDP must pay the ground rent for its secretariat in Abuja.
“Look at what we are doing differently. People have said that FCT was not working (but) now it is working, which means I’m doing things that they (past FCT Ministers) 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 poor people, saying nothing will happen to them, but I say something will happen. That is why we are (achieving) results. If you don’t do the right thing, too bad. I don’t care.”
Wike, also hit back at his political critics, particularly those seeking his expulsion from the PDP, boasting that he has not seen anyone who can nullify his membership of the party.
He said, “I am still in PDP. I worked hard for the party. I have not seen anybody who will have 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?” he queried.
The former Rivers State Governor also took a swipe at his predecessor, former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi.
Last Friday, at an event organised to mark his 60th birthday anniversary, Amaechi had said he is hungry and he won’t mind joining the coalition led by opposition arrowhead Atiku Abubakar to trounce President Bola Tinubu at the 2027 polls.
But Wike said Amaechi is hungry for power, and not food. He pointed out that with over two unbroken decades in various top public offices, Amaechi can’t claim that he is hungry for food.
Wike said, “I don’t know why a man would choose his 60th birthday to tell lies. It’s unfortunate. Of all times, on your 60th birthday when people are celebrating you?
“He was (Rivers State) Speaker from 1999 to 2007. He was the most pampered speaker. He became a governor from 2007 to 2015. Eight years as Rivers State House of Assembly Speaker, and eight years as governor, he never talked about hunger.
“He became a minister from 2015 to 2023, eight years as a super minister of transport. When he was borrowing money (for projects), he didn’t talk about hunger.
“Two years after office, he says: ‘I’m in coalition because I’m hungry’. He is only hungry for power and that shows failure on his part.
“How do you insult Nigerians? How do you trivialise the issue of hunger or poverty? He joined Atiku, and (ex-Kaduna governor Nasir) el-Rufai, all because he is hungry, has he not insulted Nigerians? Just that he can’t stay out of power.”
Wike also dismissed claims that Amaechi is influential enough to help the opposition coalition remove President Bola Tinubu.
Wike said Amaechi lacks such influence, stressing that the former Minister of Transportation could not help ex-President Muhammadu Buhari secure 25 percent votes in Rivers State.
“You say he is influential, what influence? We overrate people, what influence? He was governor in 2015 but couldn’t produce a successor, he couldn’t give his candidate – Buhari – a common 25 percent, he was a sitting minister in 2019 and no President has ever moved with soldiers the way he did.
“Amaechi said he produced a governor but couldn’t produce a candidate. Buhari didn’t make 25 percent and he was the DG of his campaign.
“In 2023 he came to support Atiku in PDP, thank God we didn’t support the party. If we had supported PDP and they won, he would have taken the glory. PDP failed, didn’t get 10 percent, so what is the influence?”