Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has described Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), as better suited to be the “president of social media” than Nigeria’s president.
Wike made the remarks on Saturday during a stakeholders’ town hall meeting in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, where he criticised Obi’s leadership approach and questioned his ability to govern the country.
Obi, a former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has faced criticism from Wike over his movement between political parties amid internal disputes.
“I give him president of social media. If it’s to vote president of social media, I’ll vote for him. But not to govern Nigeria,” Wike said.
“You ran under Labour Party, problem came, you ran. You ran from PDP, from Labour, you go to ADC, anywhere problem is, you run. How will you solve the problems of the country?”
The former Rivers State governor argued that effective leadership requires the ability to resolve challenges, citing his decision to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during its internal crisis.
“When there was a problem in PDP, did I run? I defeated them,” he said.
Wike also questioned Obi’s record as governor of Anambra State, claiming that the incumbent governor, Chukwuma Soludo, had demonstrated his performance in office in a way he argued Obi had not.
The FCT minister also criticised the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and its presidential ticket, describing former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as unreliable.
“I was in the same party with Atiku, I know him. He’s a man you can’t take his words to the bank. He tells you something in the morning, it’s a different thing in the afternoon, it’s a different thing in the evening,” he said.
Wike further faulted the ADC’s decision to select Rotimi Amaechi as Atiku’s running mate, arguing that the choice had weakened the party’s electoral prospects.
“The presidential candidate of the ADC is already bad. He then worsened the ticket by bringing this fumigating… The ticket now became worse, in fact it has been buried,” he said.