FCT minister Nyesom Wike has rallied support for President Bola Tinubu in Rivers ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Mr Wike, who spoke on Friday during a strategic consultative meeting with stakeholders of the Akpor Kingdom in Obio-Akpor local council, described his political alignment with Mr Tinubu unshakable.
“My interest in Rivers state is for God to use me as a vessel to help our people. I am back here not for what I will get, but for what I will be to raise my people,” Mr Wike explained.
Mr Wike noted that expanding the political base in Rivers is essential for delivering democratic dividends.
“There is no permanent enemy in politics what we have is permanent collective interest. It is all about the interest of our people. The more you are in number, the happier you become. Leadership is like a waste dustbin. If you cannot absorb things, both the good and the bad, then you cannot be a true leader,” said the former Rivers governor.
Reflecting on the political trajectory that led to his appointment as FCT mnister, Mr Wike noted that working with the president was an extraordinary milestone that defied political convention.
The minister stressed that his return to grassroots mobilisation in Rivers was aimed at leveraging his position as a vessel to uplift the state and its people.
”You know how difficult, you know how impossible it looked, but he made it possible for us to produce the minister of the Federal Capital Territory,” he stated.
Mr Wike charged political actors in Rivers not to be distracted by social media criticism regarding his open-door policy toward former detractors, asserting that true political strength lies in numerical superiority.
“Obio-Akpor as a whole, whether you are a politician, whether you are a traditional ruler, whether you are a pastor, or whether you are a native doctor, I need everybody now,” he said.
The minister’s statement came days after he vowed to resign as FCT minister should Mr Tinubu lose in 2027 in Rivers and Abuja.