The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has rejected claims by Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, that he promised President Bola Tinubu he would undermine the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Wike described the allegation as false and misleading while speaking during an end-of-year media interaction on Monday, insisting that no such pledge was ever made to the president.
“Seyi Makinde has never called me Wike before. That was the first time I heard him address me that way, and it is unfortunate,” Wike said.
He questioned the basis of Makinde’s claim, asking what could have warranted such a statement.
“You must first ask yourself: what was that meeting and what was the purpose of the meeting that would have led me to say, ‘Mr President, I will hold the PDP down for you?’” he said.
Wike further challenged Makinde to explain why he failed to raise the issue earlier if such a statement had indeed been made.
“If that were true, why did Seyi Makinde not come out earlier to tell the party, ‘I was in a meeting and I heard what Wike said?’ That did not happen,” he said.
Clarifying the circumstances surrounding the alleged meeting, the former Rivers State governor explained that the visit to President Tinubu took place after the 2023 elections and involved several PDP leaders.
“There was no such meeting as being suggested,” Wike said.
“Myself, former Benue State governor Samuel Ortom, former Abia State governor Okezie Ikpeazu, former Enugu State governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, and Seyi Makinde went to see the president after the elections to discuss certain issues.”
According to him, the Chief of Staff to the President was present during the visit, which he said was informal and not pre-arranged.
“I was the one who asked the Chief of Staff to sit in so that we could remind the president of what we discussed. There was nothing like me telling Mr President that I would hold the PDP down for him,” Wike added.
Describing Makinde’s allegation as “very unfair,” Wike suggested that the Oyo State governor was acting out of frustration and hinted at unspoken presidential ambitions.
“There is nothing wrong with having ambition, but ambition must be pursued according to the rules,” he said. “Politics is not like being a contractor; it has its own rules.”
The comments were in response to Makinde’s remarks during a media chat last week, where he alleged that Wike had, during a private 2023 meeting, voluntarily assured Tinubu of his readiness to weaken the PDP to support his re-election bid.
Makinde had claimed that the alleged statement marked the beginning of his fallout with Wike, adding that he regretted backing Tinubu in the 2023 election and would not support him in 2027, citing concerns about Nigeria’s democracy.
The exchange has further highlighted growing tensions within the PDP as political alignments ahead of the 2027 elections begin to take shape.
