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• Atiku, Amaechi, Obi political gamblers, says FCT minister
• You lack moral authority to talk about political consistency, parties tackle Wike
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has described former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi as “political gamblers”, urging Rivers residents not to entrust their future to them ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Wike, who is also the National Leader of the Rainbow Coalition, said the opposition figures had yet to convince Nigerians that they possessed the vision and proven developmental records needed to lead the country.
But reacting in a telephone chat, Osa Director/National Publicity Secretary, Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) said Wike should qualify as a political gambler, as he was working for both the APC and a faction of the PDP.
Wike spoke at a Rainbow Coalition town hall meeting in Ayama, Abua/Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State, where he mobilised support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid and other candidates aligned with the coalition.
Addressing traditional rulers, party members and community stakeholders, the minister urged the electorate to prioritise performance and tangible development over political rhetoric.
“Don’t trust your destiny to political gamblers. Don’t trust your destiny to ‘kalokalo’ people,” Wike told the gathering.
He described the opposition politicians as people who repeatedly sought the presidency without presenting what he considered a convincing vision for Nigeria.
“These people are political gamblers and you cannot give your destiny to ‘kalokalo’ people; you cannot hand over your destiny to political gamblers.
“Give a destiny to somebody who we know, who has tried all this, and he has done it,” he said, in an apparent reference to Tinubu.
Wike singled out Atiku and Amaechi, whom he identified with the African Democratic Congress (ADC), as well as Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), in his criticism of opposition figures.
He argued that repeated presidential contests without a clear governance plan would not provide solutions to Nigeria’s challenges.
Drawing a comparison with former United States President Abraham Lincoln, who made several attempts to secure political office before becoming president, Wike argued that repeated presidential bids should be driven by a clear national vision rather than a desire to recover political investments.
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Defending his political record, the FCT minister challenged Amaechi to identify projects executed in Abua/Odual during his tenure as Rivers governor, contrasting his predecessor’s record with projects he said his own administration delivered in the area.
Wike also commended Tinubu’s administration for what he described as progress in stabilising critical sectors of the economy and restoring industrial harmony in tertiary institutions.
He urged residents to support Tinubu in 2027, alongside candidates endorsed by the Rainbow Coalition.
The minister named Kingsley Chinda as the coalition’s choice for Rivers governor, Felix Obua for Rivers West Senatorial District and Solomon Boss for the Abua/Odual-Ahoada East Federal Constituency, all under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He, however, urged voters to support John Iderima, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Abua/Odual State Constituency.
Chinda commended Wike for his grassroots mobilisation efforts, saying the coalition intended to adopt a bottom-up approach to governance if its candidates assumed office.
In a short reaction, Osa Director, spokesman for the NDC told Saturday Sun: “At the NDC, we don’t take people like Wike seriously. He is a proponent and an advocate of stomach infrastructure. In a civilised country where there is respect for the rule of law, Wike should be behind bars, or at the least, answering questions from the security agencies for his open and voluntary confessions to the crime of elections rigging.
“Wike, and not Obi, is the political gambler who is a member of two political parties, the APC, and a faction of the PDP concurrently.”
In its reaction, the African Democratic Congress ( ADC) Presidential Campaign Council ( PCC) said Wike lacks the moral authority to lecture anyone about political consistency.
The ADC PCC, which spoke its Director, Strategic Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Rotimi Amaechi, are prepared to put their case before the Nigerian people and be judged at the ballot.
Shaibu said “Wike has no moral authority to lecture anyone about political consistency. He remains in the PDP while serving an APC government he once denounced as cancerous. That is not political courage; it is a breathtaking act of political convenience.
“Before calling Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi gamblers, Wike should explain his own wager: how he can condemn a government in public, serve it in office and still hide behind the party he has effectively abandoned. Did the government he called cancerous suddenly become healthy when a ministerial seat became available?
“Atiku and Amaechi are prepared to put their case before Nigerians and be judged at the ballot box. Wike wants the privileges of the APC government and the political cover of the PDP. He wants to have it both ways—and expects Nigerians not to notice.
“Wike’s insult is a smokescreen for his own contradiction. He should stop pointing fingers and explain why he is serving the very government he once called cancerous. Until then, his lecture on political gambling is the most shameless case of the gambler accusing others.”
