The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed Governor Seyi Makinde’s claim that he promised President Bola Tinubu he would “hold down” the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2027 election while clarifying Makinde’s presidential ambitions.
Tension rocked Nigeria’s political scene, particularly within the leadership of the PDP, which escalated last week when Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, accused Wike of promising Tinubu that he would hold the opposition party ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Speaking during an end-of-the-year media chat on Monday, Wike described Makinde’s allegation as a blatant lie and suggested that the Oyo State governor was “frustrated” and lacked the courage to openly declare his own presidential ambitions.
Wike said, “Seyi Makinde has never called me Wike. That is the first time I have heard him calling me Wike. It’s unfortunate.
“First of all, you ask yourself, what was that meeting? What was the purpose of that meeting? That would have led me to say, Mr President, I will hold PDP down for you.”
The former Rivers State governor queried why, if the allegation were true, Makinde did not raise the issue earlier after the alleged meeting with the president.
“Why did Seyi Makinde not come up all this while to tell the party, see what Wike is doing? I was in a meeting. I saw what Wike said. It’s not correct,” he said.
Wike denied the existence of the supposed meeting, saying, “There was no such meeting. Rather, my humble self, the former governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, the former governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, the former governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, and Seyi Makinde, went to see the president.
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“We went to see the president after the elections were over, to discuss certain things. While we were there, the Chief of Staff — you should know that the Chief of Staff is always around the president.
“I was the one who said, look, Chief of Staff, come and sit down, so we can remind the president of what we have discussed. There was nothing like a meeting we booked to go and see Mr President. So, it is completely out of place for anybody to say that in that meeting I told Mr President that I would hold PDP down for him.”
Describing the claim as “very, totally unfair,” Wike said the Oyo State governor was frustrated.
“I have told everybody, frustration — if you can see it, if you watch Seyi Makinde, you can see frustration. And this young man, we have advised severely.
“Politics is not like being a contractor with Shell. Politics is not like being a contractor. It has different rules.
“When did Seyi Makinde come into politics? There is nothing wrong with having ambition, but the ambition must be pursued according to the rules.”
“He doesn’t even have the guts to tell us he wants to run for president. Let him say that he has told anybody. But we know, we are not kids,” Wike concluded.
