By Omeiza Ajayi
Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, has declared that President Bola Tinubu will win the 2027 presidential election on the first ballot, ruling out the possibility of a run-off.
“I have not seen any likelihood of a run-off,” Wike said during his monthly media chat monitored in Abuja on Tuesday.
Asked about the legacy Tinubu would be leaving behind should he lose his reelection, Wike said, “It will be wrong for me to even answer that kind of question. He will be returned. Nigerians will return him.”
Wike also denied working against three governors of the All Progressives Congress APC, Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State and Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State.
According to him, it would be wrong to accuse him of sponsoring candidates against the governors. “It is very much unfair,” he said.
He said his party was entitled to field candidates. “I am not in their party. So you can’t tell me my party cannot have candidates,” Wike said.
He said backing the president did not stop him from doing that. “The mere fact I supported President Tinubu, which I did in 2023, and I am still doing does not mean we cannot field candidates at other levels,” he said.
Wike said he made no deal with the governors. “Did I enter into any arrangement with any of them?” he asked. “I did not promise any governor.”
He cited Uzodimma as proof of his good faith and invited the governor to say whether he had backed him in his second-term bid.
“Ask Governor Hope. If he is a sincere person, he will tell you the role I played in his reelection,” Wike said.
He said politicians commonly hope their rivals will stumble.
“Every person prays for his opponent to make a mistake. So, I have no hand”, he said of the situation in Kwara between the governor and former Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
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