The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has urged Nigerians to scrutinise the motives, records and intentions of politicians seeking public office ahead of the 2027 general election.
Wike cautioned against what he described as political gamblers who exploit public grievances and concerns about marginalisation to advance personal ambitions.
The minister spoke on Thursday in Abuja during the inaugural Idoma Hall of Fame induction ceremony, organised in collaboration with Och’Idoma as part of the Idoma Centenary Plus celebration.
Delivering a keynote address titled “People, Politics and Power Play in Nigeria: The Agitation for Equity and Fairness,” Wike urged Nigerians to look beyond ethnic sentiments and political calculations when assessing candidates seeking their votes.
He questioned the sincerity of politicians who, according to him, had not celebrated their birthdays with underprivileged Nigerians while holding public office but had recently begun visiting Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps to mark their birthdays amid presidential ambitions.
Wike warned that genuine concerns about inequality and marginalisation should not be used as tools for political manipulation or to advance sectional interests.
“One of the enduring difficulties of our political life is the tendency to convert public power into private possession,” he said.
According to the minister, when public office becomes a means of personal enrichment, public resources are diverted towards private interests, while sectional domination deepens feelings of exclusion among citizens.
He argued that replacing one ethnic or regional group with another in positions of authority would not resolve injustice if the benefits of governance remained concentrated in the hands of a privileged few.
“If one group replaces another at the table while the benefits remain fundamentally exclusionary, the occupants have changed, but the injustice has not,” Wike said.
The FCT minister also challenged Nigerians to oppose marginalisation consistently, regardless of whether their ethnic groups or political allies were in power.
“If we complain about marginalisation only when our own people are excluded but become silent when others are marginalised after our people gain power, we are not opposing injustice; we are seeking access to its privileges,” he stated.
Wike maintained that the true measure of fairness was the willingness to defend justice even when doing so did not serve one’s ethnic, regional or political interests.
He called for a political culture that treats public office as a responsibility rather than an entitlement, stressing that Nigeria’s diversity should promote national unity instead of encouraging exclusion.
The minister also defended the federal character principle enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, as amended, saying it was designed to promote national unity and prevent a few states or sectional interests from dominating public institutions.
However, he cautioned that the pursuit of equitable representation should not come at the expense of competence and merit in public appointments.
Wike’s remarks come as political activities intensify ahead of the 2027 general election, with political parties and prospective candidates positioning themselves for the contest.
Comments