- Wike: Nobody Serves one-term, and sticks to it. Obi is misleading Nigerians with one-term…talk.
- Obidients: “Mandela said he ‘ll serve one-term, he did! Lyndon B. Johnson said one-term term, and he did! We believe in Obi.”
By Obinna Uballa
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has accused former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, of misleading his supporters and Nigerians with promises of serving only one term if elected president, describing such pledges as deceptive and unrealistic.
Wike, who spoke during his monthly media chat in Abuja on Monday, aligned his views with those of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s that no presidential candidate can sincerely guarantee a single-term presidency.
According to Wike, political realities often change after assuming office, making such commitments impractical or totally unrealistic.
“It’s very clear what El-Rufai said, stop saying you will run for four years, it’s not correct. I don’t want people to be deceived. Circumstances will change,” Wike said.
“How do you sit down and a president tells you, ‘I will run for four years,’ then you believe him? How can you say that? When you get there, you will now find out if you will run for a second or third term. Some people even tried to run for a third term.”
However, in a swift reaction, members of the Obidient Movement, who are known as supporters of Obi debunked Wike’s statement, accusing the minister of what they called “poor knowledge of political trends across the world.”
A notable member of the Obidient group, Alhaji Suleiman Talfida in a social media post said: ” People don’t read and people have poor knowledge of political trends globally. Hence the Minister can say unsubstantiated lies. Nelson Mandela pledged to do one term and he left in 1999. President Johnson of the United States insisted on one term and he did. There are many leaders who did so. But because people like Wike lack principles,they find it difficult to understand Peter Obi. The masses and the young people of this country are with Obi.”
However, Wike dismissed Obi’s political prospects, insisting that the momentum he enjoyed in 2023 cannot be replicated in 2027. He questioned Obi’s political platform and strategy ahead of the next election.
“This era of social media, which party will he run under? Is it Labour? Where will he get the six million votes, under the PDP? Under Labour Party? If you are running, people should know the party you are running on,” Wike said.
“They should know the platform. Is it December that he will mention it? Atiku has said he will run in the ADC, Amaechi said ADC, but he has not said where he will run. Why are you keeping your supporters guessing?”
The minister also ruled out any possibility of running for president in 2027, declaring that he would not contest against President Bola Tinubu, who appointed him into his current position.
“I will not run. I have integrity, I have character. There is no way my appointer is there, and we are saying he should run, and then I turn around and say I should run,” Wike said.
He stressed that his decision was based on loyalty and principle, not political expediency. The former Rivers State governor added that without his efforts, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have collapsed.
“I have said if we don’t love PDP, by now you won’t be hearing that name. I don’t need to be a governor for me to do what I want to do,” he said.
“No opposition party can survive when they have a serious crisis. The duty of the opposition party is to see whatever way they can solve their problem, and it’s not by being arrogant and doing impunity.”
