The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, says former President Goodluck Jonathan has not informed him of any intention to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Wike stated this during a media parley with journalists in Abuja on Friday, reacting to speculations that Jonathan was being pressured to return to the presidential race.
“You’re the one telling me here. Jonathan has never told me; he has never called me one day that, look, I’m being pressured to run,” Wike said, adding that he would share his opinion only if Jonathan personally sought his advice.
The minister dismissed reports about his involvement in the matter, saying, “I will not because you people put something on the pages of newspapers — then I now assume it’s correct.”
Wike also denied knowledge of the emergence of former Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), as the consensus candidate for the position of National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“I don’t know about Tanimu Turaki becoming chairman; maybe he becomes chairman for another faction — it’s not the PDP I know,” he said.
Northern PDP stakeholders had recently endorsed Turaki ahead of the party’s national convention slated for November 15–16 in Ibadan, Oyo State. Wike, however, described the planned convention as illegal and said he would not attend.
“How do you want me to attend a convention that I know by law that there is no convention?” he queried.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that former President Jonathan is under pressure to drop his speculated 2027 ambition and support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
