Nyesom Wike warns that calls for ex-President Jonathan to contest in 2027 could destabilise Nigeria.
He urges patience with Tinubu’s reforms while accusing Atiku of exploiting economic hardship for politics.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has cautioned that calls for former President Goodluck Jonathan to run in the 2027 presidential election could destabilize Nigeria’s political landscape.
Speaking on Channels Television’s “Politics Today,” Wike argued it was disingenuous for the same political actors who blocked Jonathan’s re-election bid in 2015 to now encourage him to return, despite his standing as a respected global statesman.
He said any campaign positioning Jonathan as a “one-term” candidate was an invitation to crisis. According to him, those urging the former leader back into domestic politics risked undermining his international reputation and plunging the country into needless political tension.
Wike also warned against efforts to upset Nigeria’s regional power balance under the guise of one-term arrangements, saying such maneuvers were insincere and potentially destabilizing.
On President Bola Tinubu’s government, Wike acknowledged that Nigerians were experiencing hardship but maintained that the administration’s difficult economic policies were necessary for long-term recovery. He pointed to ongoing infrastructure work in Abuja as evidence of progress, stressing that the projects were a sign of genuine effort to improve living conditions.
Responding to comments by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar about growing hunger and the possibility of revolution, Wike accused Atiku of political opportunism. He noted that Atiku had served for eight years as vice president but failed to address structural issues then, adding that his current criticisms lacked credibility.
Wike concluded by urging citizens to remain patient with the Tinubu administration and warned opposition figures against exploiting the country’s economic challenges for political gain.
