2027: Support Tinubu for Nigeria’s full economic recovery, Wike tells Rivers’ people
BY STEPHEN GBADAMOSI
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike, has declared that Nigeria’s full economic recovery depends entirely on sustaining the bold reform policies initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Addressing thousands of supporters, traditional rulers, and political stakeholders at a Rainbow Coalition Townhall meeting in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State, Wike asserted that only the continuation of the current administration’s economic direction could permanently pull the country back from the brink of collapse.
Recalling his political guidance to the state ahead of the previous general elections, the minister stressed that the hard economic choices being implemented today were necessary remedies to salvage a system that was virtually dead when President Tinubu took office.
“Only the continuation of the economic reforms initiated by the Tinubu government can bring this country back from the economic comatose it was in before this present administration took over.
“When in 2023 I came here, I pleaded with you and said, ‘listen, no matter how difficult it may sound, it is better for us to go the way I was going.’ So many people were afraid; but to the glory of God, we can see that we never made a mistake,” he said.
Framing the 2027 presidential election around national economic stability, Wike urged citizens not to surrender the country’s progress to career politicians and political opportunists, whom he likened to chronic pool bettors who repeatedly gamble with public trust.
He singled out former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, warning that supporting politicians who had made decades-long pursuits for power would mean diverting national funds to recoup lost campaign expenses, rather than consolidating economic gains.
“Do not put your destiny into the hands of political gamblers or kalo-kalo players. Look at a man who has run for President for years—Atiku Abubakar. Every time, he will try.
“If you make a mistake and support him, what you are doing is supporting him to recover all the money he has spent for those eight years. We cannot put your destiny in their hands,” he said.
Wike also took aim at former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, dismissing his public engagements—such as treadmill workouts and staged birthday visits to IDP camps—as superficial politics designed to deceive the public.
Responding, Oba Obuoha-Obi assured Wike that the kingdom stood fully united behind the President’s leadership.
“It is only a wicked man whose heart has no God in it that sees his brother going for something good and he begins to pull the building on his bed. Such one should not prosper,” he said.
