2027: Jonathan being deceived, fielding Obi will spell doom for PDP – Wike

….Says, I won’t run for president

…’El-Rufai failed in his calculation about Tinubu’s reelection’

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: Ahead of the 2027 Presidential Election, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, has warned that former President Goodluck Jonathan is being misled by some political hawks into contesting, while also cautioning that bringing back former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, as a presidential candidate would spell doom for the Peoples Democratic Party PDP.

Speaking in a televised media chat monitored in Abuja on Monday, Wike accused some party leaders of arrogance and a lack of integrity, stressing that PDP had failed to learn from its past mistakes.

“In the road up to 2023, I told my colleagues that PDP was shooting itself in the foot. You cannot have the presidential candidate and, at the same time, the national chairman of the party. They stole the presidential ticket and also took the national chairmanship. I said it would purge them, and it did. I have no regrets,” he said.

Wike also dismissed moves by some stakeholders to draft Obi into the 2027 race, describing it as a recipe for disaster.

“Bring Obi to where? You want to kill the party even more? Obi was the one abusing the PDP, calling it rotten. Now the same party is good enough for him to pursue ambition? Ambition can even make people go to Satan’s house. If you want to destroy this party, dare it. Let Obi come, there is nowhere he will go,” Wike declared.

He further cautioned Jonathan not to allow himself to be used again by politicians who deceived him in the past.

“I know Jonathan very well. He has international respect and should maintain that. These same people weighing Jonathan down are the ones who played him in 2015. They are only trying to cause confusion in the party,” Wike said.

The FCT Minister also rejected insinuations that he harboured presidential ambitions ahead of 2027, saying his position had always been clear.

“I have integrity, I have character. The person who appointed me is there. We are saying he should run. Then I will turn around to say I want to run? What kind of thing is that? How will my children even look at me? I will not run for president,” he stressed.

Wike also dismissed former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai’s claim that President Tinubu would come a distant third in the 2023 presidential election, describing the assertion as faulty and mathematically inaccurate.

Wike argued that El-Rufai “failed in his mathematics” by predicting Tinubu’s third-place finish without identifying who would come first and second.

“He goofed. He should have completed it since he claimed Tinubu would come third. How did he arrive at who would be third without arriving at who would be first and second?” Wike asked.

The minister said he was confident about Tinubu’s chances during the election, adding; “I will put a bet. Tinubu will win this election squarely.”

On suggestions of a possible runoff, Wike dismissed the idea. “Which runoff? With who? It is not possible,” he said.

The minister also criticized Nigeria’s political culture, noting that candidates who lose elections rarely accept defeat without raising allegations against the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC.

“Tell me which election INEC conducted that people didn’t complain about. Is there anybody who has lost election in this country and has come out to concede, apart from Jonathan? Mention one,” he stated.

The minister urged politicians to emulate former President Jonathan, who conceded defeat in 2015, stressing that Nigerians must stop making excuses after elections.

“We have this spirit of always complaining. I don’t like excuses. What I cannot achieve, I will say it is not possible. But people must also learn to concede for the sake of national interest,” Wike added.

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