The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike has refuted claims made by Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, that he, Wike, privately pledged to “hold the PDP” down for President Bola Tinubu to win the 2027 Presidential election.
Governor Makinde, during a December 23 media chat in Ibadan, alleged that Wike made the remark during a post-2023 election meeting with President Tinubu. Makinde in the interview had said his relationship with Wike collapsed after Wike made what he described as a “shocking” declaration during a meeting with President Tinubu, which he said the President neither requested nor endorsed.
“The real issue was that I was in a meeting with the President. Wike, the President’s Chief of Staff and two others were also at that meeting. And Wike said to the President, ‘I will hold the PDP for you against 2027.
I was in shock. So we got to the veranda, and I said, ‘Wike, did we agree to this?’ The real issue is that Wike would like to support the President for 2027 – that is fine; it is within his right to do that.
But also some of us who want to ensure that democracy survive and we don’t drift into a one-party state, and we want to ensure that the PDP survive, he should also allow us to do our own thing. That is just the issue between Wike and me.” he said
However, in his media parley held today, Wike dismissed Governor Makinde’s claim as a “blatant lie” and a sign of Makinde’s frustration over missing a ministerial appointment.
‘’That is a blatant lie. The first time I am seeing him call me Wike, I have never heard him call me Wike one day. 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 for you?
Why did Makinde not come up all this while to tell the party, see what Wike is doing? I was in a meeting and see what Wike said, It’s not correct.
And let me put the record straight, there was no such meeting. Rather, my humble self, the former governor of Ikpeazu, the former governor of Benue State, Ugwuanyi, and Makinde went to see the president.
We went to see the president to discuss, of course, elections were over, to discuss about certain things. While we were there, the chief of staff, of course, you should know that the chief of staff is always around.
You know, 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 said to Mr. President, I will hold the PDP. That’s very unfair. Very, very unfair. Very unfair.” he said
