***Questions His Leadership Consistency

***Dismisses Atiku, Obi as Serious Threats to Tinubu in 2027 election

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his reported change of position on fuel subsidy, questioning the consistency of his leadership and policy positions.

Wike, who spoke in Abuja, also dismissed Atiku and former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, as serious threats to President Bola Tinubu’s bid for re-election in 2027, declaring that the President has no formidable opposition capable of dislodging him from power.

He maintained that the 2027 presidential election would be the easiest for Tinubu, arguing that the opposition parties had failed to unite around a candidate capable of mounting a serious challenge to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“I have told people this will be the easiest election. Why did I say so? I’m saying so because you have no opposition,” Wike said.

According to him, the mere fact that political parties have produced presidential candidates does not amount to the existence of a united opposition.

“Opposition is not merely because parties have presented their candidates. No. No opposition is united to say really who wants to remove his government in power,” he said.

Wike argued that the opposition was more fragmented ahead of the 2027 elections than it was in 2023, insisting that none of the opposition figures had demonstrated the capacity to wrest power from Tinubu.

He said: “For me, I see that there was no opposition in 2023 than now. And that’s why I say that 2027 is gone. It’s gone because you don’t have any opposition that wants to wrestle power from the government.”

The FCT minister particularly took exception to Atiku’s position on fuel subsidy, accusing the former vice president of inconsistency over the policy.

Wike recalled that Atiku had, in 2022, advocated the removal of fuel subsidy, describing it as fraudulent, but was now opposed to its removal.

“A man in 2022 said that he was going to remove the fuel subsidy because it was a fraud. Now in 2026, he is saying he is not going to remove the fuel subsidy. Is he going back to the fraud which he has alleged that fuel subsidy was?” he asked.

He said political leaders aspiring to govern the country must demonstrate consistency in their policies and explain their positions to Nigerians rather than making statements aimed merely at securing votes.

“We should be able to be consistent in what we say to our people. We should know what leadership is all about. Leadership is not you coming out, you say one thing in the morning, in the afternoon, you say a different thing. In the night, you’re talking about a different thing,” Wike said.

Defending Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidy, the minister said the policy had resulted in increased revenues available to the three tiers of government.

He also argued that the transformation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) had altered the structure of the petroleum market, making a return to the old subsidy regime difficult.

“Today, under the Petroleum Industry Act, NNPC has been fully commercialised. It’s not a limited liability company. It’s no longer the sole importer or producer of fuel, unlike what it used to be,” he said.

Wike further questioned how a future administration could realistically reintroduce subsidy on petrol produced by the Dangote refinery, given the changes in the sector.

He said the argument should instead focus on how savings from subsidy removal were being deployed to improve the lives of Nigerians.

“If you still believe in the removal of fuel subsidy, say so, and say the savings made will be utilised in this way or that way. If that case works, that’s okay,” he said.

The minister said the Federal Government had accounted for the savings from subsidy removal and distributed increased revenues among the federal, state and local governments.

He urged Nigerians to hold elected officials at the state and local government levels accountable for how they utilised the additional resources accruing to them.

Wike also dismissed criticisms that the removal of subsidy had worsened the financial situation of states, noting that many state governments were now in a better position to meet their obligations.

“If the President did not do this by removing that fuel subsidy, most states today, you would have seen a lot of strikes by workers. Nobody talks about the non-payment of their pension. Nobody talks about non-payment of salary,” he said.

He argued that Nigerians should judge elected officials based on their performance rather than political rhetoric, stressing that governors and local government chairmen were elected to serve the people and should be held accountable for their respective responsibilities.

Wike, who was once a local government chairman, also rejected claims that local councils were doing nothing, saying that while there might be areas requiring improvement, sweeping condemnation of their activities was unjustified.