The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed speculations that former President Goodluck Jonathan was planning a return to the presidential race forward of the 2027 normal election, saying the elder statesman has not communicated any such intention to him.
Wike made the clarification on Friday throughout a month-to-month media parley with journalists in Abuja, the place he addressed a spread of political points, together with the upcoming Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) nationwide conference and inside occasion disputes.
Responding to questions on stories suggesting that Jonathan was being pressured to contest, Wike mentioned he was unaware of any such transfer.
“You’re the one telling me right here. Jonathan has by no means informed me; he has by no means referred to as me in the future that, ‘look, I’m being pressured to run, what’s your pondering?’ If he calls me and asks me, I can inform him my thoughts and what I really feel,” Wike acknowledged.
He dismissed the media stories as speculative, including: “I can’t since you individuals put one thing on the pages of the newspapers, identical to you mentioned they flew me overseas— then, I now assume it’s appropriate.”
The minister additionally distanced himself from the reported endorsement of Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), a former Minister of Particular Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, because the consensus candidate for the place of PDP Nationwide Chairman.
“I don’t learn about Tanimu Turaki turning into chairman; perhaps he turns into chairman for one more faction, it’s not the PDP I do know,” Wike mentioned.
His feedback come after PDP Northern stakeholders endorsed Turaki as their most popular candidate forward of the occasion’s elective nationwide conference scheduled for November 15–16 in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Wike, nonetheless, questioned the legality of the deliberate conference, suggesting he would boycott the occasion.
“How would you like me to attend a conference that I do know by regulation that there’s no conference?”
