Breaking: Fresh Twist as Wike Picks Sides Between Top Rivers Candidate and Tinubu Ahead of 2027
- FCT Minister Nyesom Wike publicly turned Rotimi Amaechi's words against him at a political gathering in Rivers State
- Wike cited Amaechi's past record as minister of transport and his failure to secure a vice chancellor for the University of Port Harcourt
- Wike declared that President Tinubu, not Amaechi, had fulfilled the conditions Amaechi himself once set for calling someone a brother
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FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has used the ADC vice presidential candidate Rotimi Amaechi's own past definition of "brotherhood" to argue that Amaechi no longer qualifies as a political ally to the people of Rivers State, and that President Bola Tinubu does.
Speaking at a public gathering, Wike recalled that Amaechi, during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, had argued that brotherhood was not defined by blood or sentiment but by survival.
Source: Facebook
According to Wike, Amaechi's position at the time was that a brother is someone who identifies with your problems, relates with you, and thinks about your welfare.
"He said a brother is that person who identifies with me in terms of problem, who relates with me, who thinks about my welfare, who relates with me, and who thinks about my survival," Wike quoted Amaechi as saying.
Wike holds Amaechi to his own standard
Wike then turned that very definition against the former Rivers State governor, pointing to what he described as Amaechi's failure to deliver for the state during his time as minister of transport under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The minister specifically raised the case of Professor Kechuku Anuchuku, a Rivers academic who was a candidate for the position of vice chancellor at the University of Port Harcourt at a time when Amaechi was both a minister at the federal level and had an ally, Chief Andrew Ibundule Nandao Wa, serving as chairman of the university's governing council. Despite those positions of influence, Wike said the professor was never appointed.
"When our brother, our son, was vying to be the vice chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Professor Kechuku Anuchuku, an eminent scholar, eminent professor... he never became the vice chancellor," Wike said.
He also criticised Amaechi for relocating a federal university to Daura, which Wike suggested was a political calculation aimed at winning national support rather than serving Rivers people.
Tinubu declared the new brother
Wike then made his case for why Tinubu, not Amaechi, now meets the brotherhood standard Amaechi himself defined. He said Tinubu had appointed a vice chancellor for the University of Port Harcourt and another for the Federal University of the Environment in Ogoni, citing both appointments as concrete proof of identification with the people of Rivers State.
"Tinubu came and gave us the vice chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, which means Tinubu is our brother," Wike said, adding a similar point about the Ogoni institution.
He closed with an unambiguous declaration of political support, saying the people of Rivers State would vote for President Tinubu in 2027.
Wike says Atiku won't be president
Previously, Legit.ng Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Wednesday, September 2, declared that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar cannot win the January 16, 2027 presidential election, citing the violation of the rotational power principle as his core reason.
Speaking during his monthly televised chat on the state of the nation, Wike said Atiku's decision to pursue the presidency on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) disregards the principle of equity, fairness and justice that underpins power rotation in Nigerian politics.
Source: Legit.ng
