The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has said that he will not contest the 2027 presidential election against President Bola Tinubu.
He, however, said he remains a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“I will not contest again. I cannot contest against someone I’m working with. Who would win, if not him?” he said in an interview with BBC Pidgin.
Wike, who is a former governor of Rivers State, had contested the ticket of the PDP in a bid to emerge as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 election, but lost to a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
The minister was also irked by the party’s decision not to zone its presidential ticket to the South, a development that snowballed into an internal crisis that affected the party’s performance in the election.
President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress was announced as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Wike also criticised some leaders of the opposition party in the interview but said he would not dump the PDP.
“Let me ask you? Who is in the PDP? Achike Udenwa, a former governor of Imo, does not have one National Assembly member. He did not give his party three percent of the votes.
“The former governor of Ebonyi State does not have one assembly member; he does not have one National Assembly member. You did not produce a governor, you are issuing threats. What are you threatening? You are empty.
“I cannot do that kind of thing (defect). I am not a fearful man. Am I a weak man? How will I build a house, and you will come and frustrate me to leave? Who will leave? You will leave; I will not allow you to spoil the house I built. I will remain,” he said.
