Real Reason I Accepted Tinubu’s Ministerial Appointment — Wike Finally Opens Up
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has disclosed that he sought the approval of the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, before accepting to serve in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
Naija News House reports that Mr Wike, who is a chieftain of the opposition party, was among the 45 ministers inaugurated by Mr Tinubu on Monday.
During the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, the former Rivers governor had led G-5 governors that worked against the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar.
For this reason, political observers saw Mr Wike’s ministerial appointment as a reward for the role he played in helping the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, win the election.
This made many opposition party stakeholders to call on the leadership of the PDP to sanction Mr Wike and his allies for engaging in anti-party activities.
But speaking during the inaugural press briefing as FCT Minister, Mr Wike dismissed the threats.
He said: “They said they’ll sanction me that I took an appointment — that’s ridiculous,.”
“The president wrote to all the 36 state governors to bring names of people to appoint. Didn’t PDP governors submit names?
“Every PDP governor wrote a letter and nominated 10 persons for appointments in this [Tinubu’s] government.
“Before this appointment came, I wrote to the national party chairman, minority leader of the house of representatives and senate, zonal chairman of the party, my state chairman, and my governor,” Mr Wike added.
“All of them wrote me back: ‘Accept it’. I have it in evidence documented.”