2027: PDP will field presidential candidate, others – Wike

By Omeiza Ajayi

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed concerns over the future of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, asserting that the party remains a potent force capable of fielding candidates for the presidency and other elective positions in the 2027 general elections.

Speaking during a media chat monitored in Abuja on Friday, the minister answered in the affirmative when asked whether the PDP would field candidates from the Presidency down to the lowest elective position.

He however said what was important was not just to field candidates for the sake of doing so, but putting the party together and making it viable.

Wike also rose to the defence of President Bola Tinubu regarding criticisms trailing the president’s recent visit to Plateau State to commiserate with victims of the Palm Sunday killings.

He took a swipe at critics who questioned why the president did not spend the night in Jos, describing such narratives as a reduction of the presidency to “nothing.”

“Mr President was to go somewhere. Because of his concern for what happened in Plateau, he cancelled it. He said this is more important to me. Is that not enough to show that, look, he means well? He did not only say ‘I will go’. He went there,” Wike said.

The minister expressed dismay at media commentaries suggesting the president’s visit lacked empathy because he did not stay overnight.

“I was watching television this morning, I was so taken aback. Two ladies were saying, how could he have gone there? He just left, and then people, passengers were travelling, they were suffering. All kinds of things. You know, I feel so bad. We are not happy until he sleeps with each of the families in their houses. That is only when you will feel that he sympathises with them? What kind of country is this?

“If he did not go, you will complain. Okay, when he went to Benue to commiserate with the people, why did you not say, ‘Why didn’t you sleep there?’ Why did you not say, ‘Why should he come back that same day?’ You see, I have told you, what is important is not just to show your face, yes, for the optics. If I go and stay the night and I am not putting anything down to see that such a thing does not repeat itself, my going there does not make any sense,” he said.

Addressing the security situation, Wike maintained that President Tinubu is committed to ending banditry, though he acknowledged that fighting terrorism is a global challenge.

He said, “What is more important is the President is concerned. What has he done to see that this banditry and insecurity are put to a stop? And nobody in this country can say that Mr President is not doing all he can to see that this insecurity is reduced to a minimum level. What people must know, all over the world, fighting terrorism is not an easy thing. You don’t know them. A terrorist can be among you here and you wouldn’t know.”

The minister also reflected on his own political journey and the nature of power, arguing that politics is the ultimate revealer of character.

Wike said, “When you give a man power and money, then you know the true state of that person. Right? Even you who sit here, you don’t have power and you don’t have money. So you appear to be a very good man. Until today, the day power is given to you and you are seeing allocations which you are presiding over, then it is that time we will know who actually you are. It’s only politics that exposes you.”

On allegations that the current APC-led government is attempting to stifle the opposition, Wike drew parallels with his experiences under the previous administration.

He recalled the legal and political battles to save the PDP from the leadership of Ali Modu Sheriff, which he claimed was a plot orchestrated by elements within the late President Muhammadu Buhari administration to destroy the party.

“If there was anybody who was tormented by that government, it was me. APC under the Buhari government, wanted to kill PDP by using Modu Sheriff. Have they forgotten? By people like Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and the former DG of SSS, Lawal Daura. You don’t know. When people talk about government making efforts to kill the opposition, the only opposition then was PDP.

“We never ran out to Buhari to say, please, let me come and join you. We never did that. I was personally haunted. My people were personally haunted. There was nothing that EFCC at that time did not do to us. We fought Modu Sheriff. We won at the federal high court. Our winning at the federal high court was one of the reasons the government sent SSS to go and harass Justice Liman,” he recounted.

Wike dismissed current complaints from opposition figures as “lies” and excuses, stating that in politics, the ruling party will always look for loopholes to exploit.

“I want to tell you that all those things are just lies. If your party, you know you are an opposition party. You know that government, or the ruling party, or the government in power, will only look for a loophole. That is politics. They will always look for a loophole, just like you, in the opposition,” he declared.

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