FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has ridiculed the newly formed opposition coalition led by the African Democratic Congress (ADC), insisting it lacks the credibility and unity to challenge President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Speaking during a media chat with journalists on Thursday, July 3, in Abuja, Wike dismissed the coalition as a gathering of disgruntled politicians who failed to control the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“There is no coalition,” Wike declared. “The opposition has decimated themselves. The only party that can, if they put themselves well, challenge this government is the PDP.”
The former Rivers State governor specifically called out former Senate President David Mark, accusing him of attempting to hijack the PDP before defecting to become the coalition’s interim chairman.
“David Mark wanted to be chairman of the party and we said no. When they were saying the chairman should come back to North Central, we said no. We stood our ground,” Wike said. “Now he has gone to take chairman of coalition. Let me see who Nigerians will listen to.”
Wike didn’t stop there. He mocked publisher Dele Momodu, another member of the coalition, dismissing him as politically irrelevant.
“Dele Momodu was never my friend. He is somebody who said he ran for presidency, he didn’t get one vote, and that one is in the coalition,” he said.
On former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Wike criticised his repeated party switches.
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“Atiku was in PDP, he left and joined AC, from AC, he came back to PDP, left again and joined the APC, then came back to PDP, and now he has left again and joined the ADC,” he said. “Dem born you, born everytime leave, leave. They just want where they will be in charge.”
Reacting to claims that Nigerians are disillusioned and seeking change, Wike pushed back.
“They keep saying Nigerians are angry. Say that you have been defeated in this place; don’t push it to Nigerians.”
Wike also appeared to question former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai’s motives. “If El-Rufai… if the president did not dump him, would there have been a coalition on his part?”
He closed by asserting his legacy, challenging any member of the opposition to match his record in office.
“If I leave as a minister today, I can talk authoritatively and say when I was a minister, this was what I did. Let any of them challenge me.”
As the political race toward 2027 intensifies, Wike maintained that the PDP, despite its internal wrangling, remains the only opposition party with real national structure and potential, if it stays united.
“Politics is interest. There is nothing those people didn’t do to take over the factional chairmanship of PDP and we stood firm and said no,” he concluded.