Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has taken aim at 2027 Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate Peter Obi, internal rivals in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and opposition calls for the sack of Femi Gbajabiamila as Chief of Staff, in a sweeping media chat that laid bare his view of Nigeria’s evolving 2027 political battlefield.
Wike spoke on Thursday in Abuja during his monthly media briefing, where he reacted to Obi’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu over the abduction of schoolchildren in Oyo State, assessed the PDP’s chances in the next presidential election, defended Tinubu’s project policy in the FCT and addressed the PFIPC scandal.
Peter Obi had earlier asked President Tinubu to resign or drop any second-term plan over what he described as the administration’s failure to tackle insecurity and its handling of the Oyo schoolchildren’s kidnap, accusing the President of lacking compassion and capacity and saying residents felt “bitter and abandoned” by the federal response.
Obi said he had spoken publicly about the incident twice, including making a direct appeal to the kidnappers to free the children, and added that he called Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde twice to show solidarity.
He recalled that former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan would personally contact governors whenever major security incidents occurred and said he was surprised Makinde had not received any call from Tinubu over the Oyo abduction.
Wike, however, dismissed Obi’s intervention as another example of what he sees as opportunistic politics.
He said, “I don’t know how I will value any statement made by Peter Obi. He has not shown a man who is not consistent. Everything for him is politics. I am not in a position to confirm but I do know that if the President did not call Seyi, did Seyi call the President, that this is what has happened in my state. If he called him and they spoke, what is the problem?”
Wike argued that a governor, as the chief security officer of a state, has the primary responsibility to call the President when a major incident occurs.
“If something happens in my state now, it is for me to call Mr President first and say this is the problem. That is how it is done. You cannot turn it the other way round. You are the chief security of that area. If something happens, it is for you to put a call through to Mr President and say this is what has just happened in my state,” he said.
Wike Says PDP Not Ready For 2027
Beyond Obi, Wike used the media chat to deliver a blunt assessment of the PDP’s readiness for the 2027 presidential race, insisting that the party must first resolve its internal crisis and rebuild its grassroots base before talking seriously about returning to power at the centre.
He said internal wrangling had weakened the PDP and made it unrealistic to expect an easy comeback.
Wike said, “I have told you that PDP had a problem. Now, having that problem is not easy. To put yourself back to winning the presidential election is not an easy task.”
The former Rivers State Governor also took issue with the growing narrative that Nigeria’s democracy rests on whether a few prominent opposition figures decide to contest.
“The only way people now say there is democracy is if the ADC or NDC participate in the election. Democracy, for us in Nigeria, has now been defined by whether Atiku participates or whether Peter Obi participates.”
He added, “If they don’t participate, people say there is no democracy. Democracy is not about only Atiku contesting or only Peter Obi contesting.”
Wike argued that no party can expect to win the presidency without serious organisation and nationwide structures.
He said, “You have not even put your house in order, yet you want to win a presidential election. Do you know what it takes to have structures in all 36 states? Do you know what it takes to campaign across the country? Is it a two-month programme? It’s not.”
According to him, parties must first build strength at ward, local government and state levels before aiming for Aso Rock.
“What is more paramount to us Nigerians? Build a party, see what you can do at the state level, get the votes you can get, put your pieces together, then prepare.”
Wike also revisited accusations that he had acted as an “agent” of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), insisting he has consistently pushed for internal fixes within the PDP.
“Was I not the one who was accused of being an agent of APC? Those who accused me, where are they? I am still here. Everybody knows what I have said. I have not hidden it, and I have told our party, ‘Let’s put our house in order.,” the minister said.
He maintained that winning a presidential poll demands long-term planning and serious infrastructure.
He said, “Do you know what it takes to have structures in 36 states? Even people who want to run for governor in their own state know the amount of planning involved. It is not an easy thing.”
Tinubu’s ‘No Abandoned Projects’ Mandate In FCT
Turning to his core job as FCT Minister, Wike said President Tinubu has given a clear directive that old projects must not be abandoned while new ones are pursued, a policy he credited for the recent pace of work in Abuja.
He spoke about long-delayed schemes that his administration has revived and completed, stressing that many of the projects delivered in the past three years were first awarded 15 to 16 years ago.
He said, “The president said we can’t abandon old projects and while we can’t abandon old projects we must also see that we carry out new projects.”
Wike added that a significant share of completed infrastructure falls into this “old but revived” category.
He said, “I can tell you that 60 percent of the projects we have done for the past three years were projects that were awarded 15 to 16 years ago but abandoned.”
The former Rivers State governor warned that Abuja would have suffered if those earlier projects had been left to decay while the administration chased new ones.
He said, “And if we had allowed that you will now know what would have happened in Abuja.”
For him, the priority was to finish inherited jobs before launching fresh ones.
He said, “Even if we do any new thing, you will say look at these areas that have been abandoned. So what we did first was to make sure that projects that were awarded and abandoned, let us see how to finish them, which we have done, not less than 70 percent.”
Meanwhile, in Ebonyi State, the government moved to quash speculation of tension between Governor Francis Nwifuru and Wike.
In a statement issued in Abakaliki, Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Ikeuwa Omebeh, denied reports that Nwifuru had threatened Wike during a political rally at the Pa Ngele Oruta Township Stadium.
The statement said the PDP could not manufacture a rift by twisting remarks made at an endorsement rally for President Tinubu and other APC candidates ahead of the 2027 elections.
INEC Access Codes And PDP Leadership Tussle
Wike also delved into the PDP leadership dispute, revealing that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has, according to him, given his faction the access codes needed to upload candidates for the 2027 polls.
He accused the rival faction led by Kabiru Turaki of deceiving aspirants by collecting money while lacking the technical means to present candidates to the electoral body.
Wike said access codes are only issued to factions recognised as the authentic party leadership.
“This thing Turaki is doing- he has collected money from people, but it will backfire. Now, INEC has given access codes to recognized political parties. Have they given him an access code? So which candidates is he selling forms to? They have given us an access code, and we are uploading our candidates,” he said.
By his account, that access gives his camp practical control over who appears on the ballot under the PDP name in 2027, while the courts continue to hear cases linked to the party’s internal dispute.
Wike Defends Gbajabiamila Over PFIPC Scandal
On the controversy surrounding the so‑called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), Wike firmly backed Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila and dismissed calls for his suspension as a political ploy to embarrass President Tinubu.
Opposition figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, had demanded that Gbajabiamila be suspended over alleged links to the PFIPC scandal.
Wike rejected the demand and said those making such calls were overstepping their role.
“I know the chief of staff very, very well. He did not. People are saying the chief of staff must be sacked. By whom? The opposition? Why not form a government, and then you can sack whoever you want to sack.”
He described opposition calls for Gbajabiamila’s removal as “rubbish” and insisted the Chief of Staff was being targeted as a proxy for the President.
Wike’s defence comes as President Tinubu has directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to conduct a full investigation into the PFIPC and all related activities.
The order, conveyed in a statement by presidential adviser Bayo Onanuga, gives the ICPC 30 days to probe alleged forged documents, bank accounts and other issues connected to the mysterious council and submit a comprehensive report.
