The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has fired back at former Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal.
Wike spoke on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
“What do you mean by leadership and friendship? You cannot talk about leadership and ignore the person,” Wike said.
He accused Tambuwal and Atiku Abubakar of political inconsistency.
“These are people who have been consistently inconsistent. When you are a consistent betrayer, what do you expect?” he added.
Wike alleged that Tambuwal had his eyes on a Senate role if Atiku won the presidency. He said both men frequently switched political parties for personal gain.
Tambuwal’s Preference For Atiku
Tambuwal, appearing on the same programme earlier in September, declared loyalty to Atiku over Wike.
“When it comes to leadership of this country and leadership of the people, I would rather support Atiku than Nyesom Wike,” he said.
Tambuwal insisted his choices were guided by governance values rather than friendship.
He clarified that disagreements with leaders, including Goodluck Jonathan, were ideological.
“It is a collaboration; it is not something difficult. Once it is about being altruistic and nothing personal. We disagreed on principle, the way and the direction things were going,” Tambuwal said.
Long-Running Rift
The rift between Wike and key PDP figures dates back to 2023. Then, Wike criticised Atiku, Tambuwal, and Bukola Saraki for abandoning zoning commitments that could have favoured the South.
Wike also reminded viewers that he once backed Tambuwal’s bid for Speaker of the House of Representatives despite the party’s preference.
Tambuwal, however, stressed that political disputes should not be mistaken for personal animosity.
“If Atiku comes in here and Wike requests my phone, I will give it to him as a personal friend,” he said.
On appointment of Commissioners in Rivers state, Wike vowed that he has no intention of recommending commissioners to Governor Siminalayi Fubara as the latter resumes office following a six-month emergency rule imposed on Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu.
President Tinubu declared the emergency rule in March after a prolonged political rift between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Wike. Many observers had attributed the crisis, in part, to Wike’s alleged imposition of political appointees on the governor.
But speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Wike stated that he has no candidates to suggest and pledged to give the governor a free hand to manage the affairs of the oil-rich South-South state.
“I cannot go and impose anything on the governor. Why would I impose anything on the governor? Assuming I go to the governor and say, ‘I want this,’ will the state collapse? I will not (suggest commissioners for the governor) I have no candidate, and I will not.”
Wike insists that even if the Rivers governor approaches him for anything, he will assure him of a free hand to govern the state as he sees fit.
He said, “Even if the governor comes to me now and says, ‘we have agreed we want to work together’ which is natural, I will say ‘look, I give you free hand, you know how you want for the state’.
“All I would want to say, I know what I did and what I have done to keep this thing to this level, don’t drop it, move ahead. As I speak to you, Ileft the state where we can compete favourably with Lagos.”
Governor Fubara was expected to resume office on Thursday, but he failed to appear at the Government House. A large crowd that had gathered in anticipation of his arrival eventually dispersed after hours of waiting.
However, Wike said that now law mandated the governor to resume exactly on the day the emergency rule ended.
“There is no law that said he must resume work today. He is the governor, I don’t understand the way we operate. Okay, I was sworn in today as the governor for example does not mean I will go to the office tomorrow.
“You don’t know what my programmes are, you don’t know what the governor has schedule to do, you know know where he is,” he said.
