The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said if the flag bearer of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, was a better candidate, Nigerians would have voted him in the February 25, 2023 poll.
Wike spoke on Wednesday while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
The ex-governor of Rivers State said he supported the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the expense of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the standard bearer of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the keenly contested poll.
When asked whether Obi would have handled the major issues confronting the Nigerian economy better than Tinubu if he had been elected, Wike said he doesn’t discuss presidential candidates any longer.
“I don’t want to discuss social media issue,” the FCT minister said. “I don’t discuss about presidential candidate any longer; I discuss about the economy, the President, what he has to offer.”
“If he (Obi) would have been better, Nigerians would have voted for him.”
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, came third in the election won by APC’s Tinubu. The LP candidate and his PDP counterpart are in court to challenge the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaring Tinubu as winner of the poll.
Also speaking during the interview on Wednesday, the FCT minister dared the leadership of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to suspend or discipline him.
He said he has not seen the party chieftain who will suspend or expel him from the party.
“Who will discipline me? I should be the one calling for the discipline of these people who violated the party’s constitution, in the way that the party supported rotation.
“Who will suspend me? I want to dare anybody,” Wike said.
The ex-governor said he informed PDP leadership before he took the ministerial offer of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Wike said he remained a PDP chieftain despite working for the APC government. “I want to support Asiwaju (Tinubu) to finish well,” he said.
The PDP powerbroker and member of the G5 group within the main opposition party said he owed no one an apology for supporting power shift to southern Nigeria.
Wike said, “We are just waiting for the presidential panel to finish, you will know who actually are those who are working well for the party.
“How can anybody talk about expelling me? A state that brought a governor? A state that brought three senators? A state that produced 32 House of Assembly members? A state that produced 11 out of 13 House of Representatives.
“The person that would suspend me is the one that couldn’t produce a governor, is the one that couldn’t produce three senators?
“I have not seen that person, with all due respect. Nobody will do it. So, the issue of they will do it does not arise.”