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• says Rainbow Coalition is not not to restructure ruling party
• dismisses Atiku, Obi claims in Rivers
• debunks 2031 calculation
• says Fubara ‘sincere’ on reconciliation
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has rejected claims that his continued support for President Bola Tinubu is driven by personal benefits, insisting that his backing of the President predates his appointment as FCT minister.
Wike, who spoke on TVC Journalists’ Hangout on Monday, said his support for Tinubu was based on a political decision taken by the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) G5 governors ahead of the 2023 presidential election and was not a bargain for government positions.
He also defended the controversial Rainbow Coalition, insisting that its objective was to mobilise support for Tinubu’s re-election in 2027 across party lines and that it was not an APC structure or an attempt to weaken the ruling party.
The minister was responding to criticism that, of the five former PDP governors who worked against the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in 2023, he was the only one who had significantly benefited from Tinubu’s administration.
Wike dismissed the argument, saying he had consulted the PDP leadership in Rivers State and at the national level before accepting Tinubu’s offer to join the Federal Executive Council.
“When I was nominated by Mr President for consideration as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I did write to the party. First, I wrote to my governor, I wrote to the party of the state, I wrote to the zonal party and I wrote to the national party,” he said.
According to him, the party leaders unanimously supported his decision to serve in Tinubu’s administration because they believed his participation could make a difference.
Wike said other members of the G5 had also maintained relationships with the Tinubu administration, citing the appointment of former governors as ambassadors and other forms of federal support.
He therefore rejected the suggestion that his support for Tinubu was motivated by personal reward.
“Our support for President is not that we want to benefit. Our support for President is that injustice—we have always preached that the North has had this for eight years and therefore that is the reason that you should go back to the South,” he said.
Wike also sought to draw a distinction between supporting Tinubu and belonging to the APC, saying his political activities should not be interpreted as an attempt to join or restructure the ruling party.
He said the Rainbow Coalition was designed to bring together APC members and “like-minds” from other political parties who support the President’s re-election.
“We said all our party members, all those like-minds who are not APC members, to please ensure that they support Mr President,” he said.
The clarification comes amid an open disagreement between Wike and the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), chaired by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, over the coalition.
The PGF has said APC governors would support Tinubu as well as candidates officially sponsored by the party, and would not endorse political arrangements capable of weakening the APC or affecting its candidates in the 2027 elections.
Wike, however, maintained that he had never approached the APC governors seeking an alliance.
“There is no day I went to the Governors’ Forum to align with any Rainbow Coalition. There is no such day,” he had said in an earlier television interview.
On Monday, he argued that politicians could support a presidential candidate from one party while backing candidates of another party in legislative or state elections.
Wike also dismissed claims by supporters of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi that either candidate won Rivers State in the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout on Monday, the former Rivers State governor said such claims could not be established by citing results from selected polling units or relying on social media declarations.
“They won by their own imagination, won and then declared to have won,” Wike said.
He said the focus should be on the total number of polling units across the state and the official results declared by the electoral authorities.
“What we are concerned at the end of the day are the 7,000 and something polling units. Until that is done, even if 200 polling units have come and they say Obi has won or Atiku has won, they do not convince me until all the polling units have come,” he said.
Wike specifically criticised the practice of highlighting results from individual polling units to claim victory for Obi.
“I’m not interested in social media winning. I’m interested practically in the results that are on ground, who won, who was declared, and that’s all,” he said.
He challenged those claiming that Obi won Rivers State to produce the complete results supporting the claim.
“Let them produce that result sheet that said Obi won. Not on their own social media results,” Wike said.
The minister also referred to the legal challenges that followed the 2023 presidential election, asking whether those who claimed victory were able to establish their claims before the courts.
“Remember, they won the tribunal. Were they able to tender? Were they able to prove to the court that, yes, we won this election?” he asked.
Wike said every presidential candidate had his own projections before an election, but insisted that such expectations did not amount to an electoral victory.
“Everybody has their own results to produce. Everybody can say, ‘Oh, we want to look at it.’”
The FCT minister also dismissed speculation that his current political activities were designed to position him for the 2031 presidential election.
He said such calculations were premature, stressing that remaining alive and politically active in the future was itself dependent on God’s will.
“You know, people take the position of God. First of all, you have to pray that you are alive. You must ask God, ‘Keep me alive till tomorrow,’ or ‘Keep me alive till the next day.’ When God keeps you alive, then you now know what to do,” Wike said.
He also challenged those suggesting he was positioning himself for 2031 to identify the political platform on which he was supposedly doing so.
“So, am I positioning myself… in which of the parties am I positioning myself to?” he asked.
Wike recalled his participation in the 2022 PDP presidential primary, where he came second to Atiku, saying the experience had exposed him to the complexities of Nigerian politics.
He added that the question of who would succeed Tinubu in 2031 would only become relevant at the appropriate time and would also involve the President’s own political interest.
On the political reconciliation in Rivers State, Wike said Governor Siminalayi Fubara had been sincere in efforts to rebuild relationships with his former political allies.
He said Fubara had informed his political associates before travelling and had submitted names of members of his team who would participate in the campaign council.
“I don’t have any doubt that the governor is sincere,” Wike said.
He acknowledged that reconciliation could take time but said he had not seen anything from Fubara suggesting that he was acting contrary to the agreement.
“For the moment, I can say you’ve done well and I’ve not seen any sign that it’s not aligned to what you have said and what I’ve said,” he said.
Turning to the FCT, Wike attributed his confidence in a changed political equation in 2027 to what he described as the performance of the Tinubu administration.
He argued that residents of the capital had historically not felt the full impact of governance and said the administration had changed that through infrastructure and other projects.
“Performance,” Wike said when asked what had changed since the 2023 election.
He cited ongoing road construction, the Abuja City Gate, the Apo-Karshi road and other projects as evidence of the administration’s performance in the FCT.
Wike said the Apo-Karshi road, awarded in 2010, was scheduled for completion in November under the Tinubu administration.
He also claimed that the FCT had recorded significant progress in infrastructure delivery under his tenure, arguing that the results should be judged by completed projects rather than political sentiment.
His comments came shortly after he inspected several ongoing projects in Abuja, including the ISEX 2 project, Southern Parkway and the road linking Nile University to Ring Road 3 in Lugbe.
The minister said contractors had renewed their commitments to complete major projects before the 2027 elections.
At the Nile University–Ring Road 3 project, he said the contractor, CCECC, had committed to handing over the project in the first week of January.
“I must say the management has committed itself that latest first week of January, they would have also handed over this project,” Wike said.
He said the renewed commitments had eased concerns he raised during his previous inspection.
“Last time I came, I was worried, but now I think I’m a bit relieved,” he said.
