Wike says he'd vote for Peter Obi only as 'social media president'

Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has said he would vote for Peter Peter Obi only if the election were for "president of social media”.

Wike spoke on Saturday at a town hall meeting with stakeholders in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, where he again dismissed the presidential chances of the NDC candidate.

“If you were voting for president of social media, I would vote for him,” Wike said, according to reports of the event. But for the actual job of governing Nigeria, he said his answer was no.

The minister also attacked Peter Obi's personal style, arguing that a former governor who carries his own bag instead of hiring a personal assistant is showing stinginess rather than humility. He said the economy should not be handed to such a person.

Wike further accused Obi of leaving political parties whenever they run into crisis instead of staying to fix them, and pointed to his own record in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as proof he does not walk away from a fight.

Old Rivers projects under attack

Wike used the meeting to revisit projects from earlier Rivers State administrations, which he said swallowed billions of naira without results.

He cited a proposed 1,000-bed Justice Karibi-Whyte Specialist Hospital, alleging that $39 million, about ₦53 billion, was spent without a single block laid. He also questioned the state's monorail, which he said cost more than ₦60 billion and was never completed.

According to him, a gas turbine worth $308 million was sold, leaving only $308,000 in state coffers when he took office in May 2015. He also mocked a past plan to spend $10 million fumigating the state against mosquitoes.

These are allegations from the minister; the outlets reporting the event did not say whether the previous administrations have responded.

Rainbow Coalition and what happens next

Wike repeated that his Rainbow Coalition will campaign for President Bola Tinubu's re-election in the 2027 election, and said the group will formally unveil Kingsley Chinda as its Rivers State governorship candidate on Tuesday.

“No more Rivers of blood, no more shooting,” he said of the coalition's aim in the state.

For ordinary voters in Rivers and beyond, the takeaway is that the battle for the state ahead of the election is already taking shape, with the minister positioning himself at the centre of it. The sources did not say whether Peter Obi or the NDC has responded to Saturday's remarks.