Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, has explained that he could not have served as Director General of President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 campaign because he is not a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and would also not risk losing his home state the way previous campaign chairmen did.
Wike spoke on Saturday after inspecting the Apo-Karshi road
and the Kubwa-Bwari road in Abuja, recounting a string of past campaign DGs who
worked to deliver the presidency for their candidates only to lose their own
states in the process, with some losing bit he their states and the presidency.
The Presidency, on Saturday, announced the composition of
the APC Presidential Campaign Council, naming a former Governor of Zamfara
state, Senator Abdulaziz Yari as director general.
Like Amaechi, Saraki, Tambuwal, Lalong
Asked whether he would have wanted to be part of the
council, Wike who had always insisted that he did not have to be part of any
APC structure to give his all to the president’s reelection said; “In 2015, the
Minister of Transport was the governor of Rivers State.
“He was the DG of Muhammadu Buhari. Before you knew, I
pulled the carpet off his feet. He lost. He didn’t get 25 percent.
“In 2019, he was Minister of Transport, he became the DG,
and he lost his state too. Bukola Saraki was the DG of Atiku campaign in 2019.
He was running around doing ‘Atikulated’.
“I called him, ‘Why are you doing Atikulated? Go home!’ He
lost his state! Lost his own seat, too! In 2023, Aminu Tambuwal became DG of
Atiku. He lost his state!
“In the same 2023, Lalong was the DG of APC, the present
president. He lost his state!”
The minister said he was not prepared to join that list,
stressing that his focus remained on delivering the Federal Capital Territory,
FCT, and Rivers State rather than holding a titular campaign office.
“I don’t want to lose my state! I will be in my state. I
have two states: FCT and Rivers. What is important is that you are able to
deliver those two states. So it is not about being DG.
“If you are DG and you don’t win your state, what is the
essence of the DG?” he queried.
Non-APC
Wike also pointed to his standing outside the APC as another
reason he could not have headed the council, even as he continued to work for
the president’s re-election.
“I am not a member of APC. So the issue of their
Presidential Campaign Council is out of the question.
“When we were fighting for the President to be president in
2023, we were not members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, but we were
fighting.
“So, we had our own strategies on how the president would
emerge,” he said.
He described his backing for Tinubu as running instead
through a cross-party “Rainbow Coalition” of politicians supporting the
president’s re-election in their respective states while remaining on their own
party platforms, noting the arrangement was already at work in states including
Kwara, Bayelsa, Rivers, Osun and Benue.
“Mind you, when we formed the Rainbow Coalition, so many
parties were coming together, working together in some states to make sure that
the President wins,” he said.
Wike insisted that political relevance should be judged by
results delivered at the state level rather than by titles held on campaign
councils, adding that only time would tell how each state performed in 2027.
“Nobody should use that as a yardstick to judge who will be
the governor of any state. I think there is only one state that is clear that
will produce a governor. It is my state. It is very clear.
“The other ones, we don’t know what will happen,” he said.
Woke who expressed delight with the quality of work on both
roads, said they would be delivered before the end of the year.
He said his initial projection of finishing and completing
10 projects before the 2027 general election is now likely to change for the
better as there are well over 10 projects that would be completed before then.
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