Nyesom Wike is the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). After serving as a local government chairman, minister, and two-term governor under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Wike is currently part of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration. He became a partisan turncoat after he lost both the PDP’s presidential nomination and vice-presidential ticket ahead of the 2023 general election. As then-governor of Rivers State, he helped Bola Tinubu to flip the state in the presidential election.
Serving as FCT minister in the President Tinubu administration has been more than a reward for Mr. Wike. It has provided him with a platform to fight his successor in Rivers State, Governor Siminalayi Fubura, who is determined to assert control over his government and the party structure that brought him into office, to the consternation of his predecessor.
Since late 2023, the FCT minister has been actively engaged in the political crisis that has engulfed Rivers. When the serving senator of the FCT said the people of Abuja needed interventions in education and water works beyond road projects, which Wike seemed focused on, the minister responded with threats to unseat her in 2027. Wike has been fingered in efforts by the executive branch of government that are perceived to interfere with the independence of the judiciary. For instance, he recently claimed he was implementing President Tinubu’s policy by building homes for judges in Abuja, whereas the National Judicial Council is the body that is constitutionally responsible for the welfare of judicial officers.
Mr. Wike has been accused of politicising land allocation in the FCT through his reallocation of existing landholding. While he remains in the PDP, it appears his goal is to frustrate any agenda that does not benefit him or threatens the party he is currently serving under. He threatened to destabilise any PDP-led states if their governors interfere in his battle for the control of the party in Rivers State.
Mr. Wike presents the image of the Nigerian politician that is power-hungry, self-serving, and anti-democratic. While he purports to serve the interest of President Tinubu with his actions, many worry about the implications for the country’s democracy and its institutions.