Wike will betray Tinubu by running for president in 2027, says Dan Nwanyanwu

Dan Nwanyanwu, chairman of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), says Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), is planning to run for president in 2027. 

Speaking in an interview on Arise TV on Tuesday, Nwanyanwu said Wike will vie for the presidency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Wike, who is a former governor of Rivers state, has been locked in a political feud with Siminalayi Fubara, his successor.

The crisis has caused division in the Rivers assembly and friction in the state chapter of the PDP.

“When you hurt a little child, you can easily forget, but that child will not forget. The fact is that why are you holding PDP and APC structure?” Nwanyanwu asked.

“He has the structure of PDP and APC in Rivers. He has the structure of PDP at national and he is always talking about his structure and how nobody can touch his structure. What are these structures? Somebody had them before you came.

“If you are looking for evidence that something is written or said, you won’t find it. If you are in that game and you know how these things work, the evidence is everywhere.

“If I make the comment that he will run and he doesn’t want to run, let him leave the leadership of the PDP which is in his pocket at the national level.

“If he is not going to run, let us wait, you will bring me back here and call me Nostradamus. Of course he is going to run under the PDP.”

Nwanyanwu added that he has no problems with Wike working in a Tinubu administration.

“I don’t think he has joined the APC. He is serving the presidency. If you check somebody’s trajectory and see how he operates, it is difficult for you to arrive at a point where you expect him to be,” he added.

“If I have said so many things including serious things that let me not have peace, if I work against this party, you are taking an oath administered by yourself onto yourself and yet you went contrary to all.

“He is in APC government, I don’t have a problem with that. We have had people who are not even party members serving government, he can serve President Tinubu and FCT.”

In February 2023, the PDP presidential campaign claimed that Wike was supporting Tinubu, a candidate of the APC.

As Rivers governor, Wike was said to have directed his appointees to channel their support to Tinubu.

After winning the election, Tinubu praised Wike for supporting his presidential ambition and appointed him minister of the FCT.