The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed speculations that former President Goodluck Jonathan was planning a return to the presidential race ahead of the 2027 general election, saying the elder statesman has not communicated any such intention to him.
Wike made the clarification on Friday during a monthly media parley with journalists in Abuja, where he addressed a range of political issues, including the upcoming Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention and internal party disputes.
Responding to questions about reports suggesting that Jonathan was being pressured to contest, Wike said he was unaware of any such move.
“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, what’s your thinking?’ If he calls me and asks me, I will be able to tell him my mind and what I feel,” Wike stated.
He dismissed the media reports as speculative, adding: “I will not because you people put something on the pages of the newspapers, just like you said they flew me out of the country— then, I now assume it’s correct.”
The minister also distanced himself from the reported endorsement of Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), a former Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, as the consensus candidate for the position of PDP National Chairman.
“I don’t know about Tanimu Turaki becoming chairman; maybe he becomes chairman for another faction, it’s not the PDP I know,” Wike said.
His comments come after PDP Northern stakeholders endorsed Turaki as their preferred candidate ahead of the party’s elective national convention scheduled for November 15–16 in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Wike, however, questioned the legality of the planned convention, suggesting he would boycott the event.
“How do you want me to attend a convention that I know by law that there is no convention?”
