By Passman Akpos
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed reports suggesting that former President Goodluck Jonathan is planning to contest the 2027 presidential election, saying Jonathan has not personally communicated any such intention to him.
Wike made this known on Friday during a media parley with journalists in Abuja while responding to questions about speculations that the former president 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, 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 said.
The FCT Minister cautioned against giving credence to unverified reports, 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.”
On 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), Wike distanced himself from the process, saying he was not aware of any such development.
“I don’t know about Tanimu Turaki becoming chairman; maybe he becomes chairman for another faction — it’s not the PDP I know,” he stated.
The PDP Northern stakeholders had recently endorsed Turaki as their consensus candidate ahead of the party’s national convention, scheduled for November 15–16 in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Speaking further, Wike questioned the legitimacy of the planned convention, describing it as illegal and suggesting that he would not participate.
“How do you want me to attend a convention that I know by law that there is no convention?” he queried.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that former President Jonathan is under growing pressure to shelve his speculated 2027 presidential ambition and instead support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
According to Tarakirivoice, the pressure is being mounted by influential Niger Delta figures, including former militant leader Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo.
