Wike Gives Tinubu Eight Years In Office, Says He Will Work For The President’s Landslide Victory In 2027

By Charles Igbo

The Emperor of Rivers State politics, Nyesom Wike, has said that President Bola Tinubu will rule Nigeria for eight years. The President who has served only five months out of his first four-year term as President, has been promised a landslide victory in Rivers State in 2027 by Wike. President Tinubu’s first term will end on May 28, 2027. But according to Wike, his second term starts immediately, thereafter – May 29, 2027.

Wike, PDP, is the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, but while still clinging tightly to his PDP membership, he is serving under the APC Government as the Minister for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

In the 2019 Presidential Election, Wike publicly worked for President Bola Tinubu’s victory against the candidate of his own Party, Atiku Abubakar. The bone of contention was that not only did Atiku defeat Wike in the PDP Presidential Primaries, he refused to pick him as his running mate, in preference to the then Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa. And, Wike is not relenting in  his fight against the PDP.  Come 2027, the Minister has made it clear that he would still work for President Tinubu against the PDP.

Wike, who, without any shadow of doubt, is the leader of both the APC and PDP in Rivers State, spoke Thursday, October 26, 2023, in Abuja when he hosted a delegation of the Rivers State APC in his office. The APC team was led by the National Vice Chairman,  South-south,  Victor Giadom. Recall that Giadom,  a Rivers man, was put into office by the now politically irrelevant former Rivers State Governor, and immediate past Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who founded the APC in the State.

Wike told the delegation that he had no regrets that he worked for the electoral success of President Tinubu in 2019, and owed nobody any apologies for that. He said he did so because he was out to ensure justice and equity. He expressed excitement at the victory of the President at the Supreme Court on Thursday, and boasted that come 2027, those who scored 2,000 votes in Rivers State, are not likely to score 50 votes as all the votes will go to Tinubu.

Wike: “Let me say clearly, and to the hearing of everyone, we owe a duty to continue to support Mr President, irrespective of the political party we belong to. My position is not hidden. I owe nobody no apologies that I stand firm with President Tinubu. I stand for equity, fairness and justice.

“I thank God that the battle has ended to the glory of God. We are all members of the  Nigerian State, and therefore, it is important for all of us to also understand that the Nigerian State does not belong to a particular person or group.

“A country of this nature, if A takes, the next opportunity should go to B. So, I am not going to discriminate against

anyone. I am here for all Nigerians. I am here for those who are members of political parties and those who are not members of any political party.

“Mr President, having emerged is not the President of APC. He is the President of Nigeria. Of course, while he is governing Nigeria, he must also take care of his Political Party. No one can argue that. It is natural. But when it comes to governance, Nigerians must benefit.

“The interest of Rivers State is key. What will benefit our State is what we must always project. I am not a member of the APC, but I believe that the support for Asiwaju was necessary.

“Looking at all the candidates from the South, I knew that nobody would defeat Asiwaju. The capacity and political will to take action, he has it.

“Most of you worked for Asiwaju. Those who didn’t work for Asiwaju, we know. It was not hidden. It was clear.

“I am not a politician for self. I am a politician for all. Not ‘me, me, me’. Nobody does that. Anybody who does that does not want to survive, because at the end of the day, you need people. But be assured that all of us are working together for President Tinubu.

I am sure that in the next election, those who scored 2,000 would not get 50 votes again because we have no vote to give anybody again. Our votes will go to President Bola Tinubu.”

By this declaration of full support for Tinubu in 2027, Wike has debunked the widely held notion in some circles that he would contest against Tinubu in 2027. What is not clear, however, is, if Wike will still be a PDP member in 2027. Not a few people think he is APC – bound.