Atiku won’t be PDP presidential candidate in 2027 – Wike

• He stated that Atiku was scheming for another chance to be PDP’s presidential candidate but he won’t get it.

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has asserted that former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, will not secure the PDP’s presidential ticket come 2027.

Wike made the assertion during a live media parley in his office in Abuja on Wednesday.

Recall that Atiku was the 2023 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Wike’s ruled out the possibility of Atiku being PDP’s standard bearer while responding to Atiku’s criticism of the current government management of Nigeria’s economy and what he would have done differently.

Atiku had published a treatise, which contained his economic blueprint, detailing how he would have saved Nigeria’s economy from plummeting to pitiful and precarious state it is in now.

Responding to Atiku’s criticism, Wike said that Atiku had previously presented his blueprint to Nigerians and he was rejected.

He stated that Atiku was scheming for another chance to be PDP’s presidential candidate but he won’t get it.

He said, “Did he not present it before Nigerians? Did Nigerians choose him? He is lobbying for another chance, but the chance will not be there. In which party? How can we rely on one man for so many years?

“Look at America. I’m sure you all did not support Trump, saying he is this, he is a racist, he is that. We cried, but Americans thought differently, made a decision for the good of their own country.”

He compared the actions and behaviour of Atiku to that of the newly elected president of the United States, Donald Trump, noting that while Trump rallied members of the Republican party ahead of the election, Atiku is sidelining PDP members and fighting others because they are influential.

“You presented your blueprint in 2023; Nigerians heard you clearly and said thank you, but it will not work. We will not support you. Criticism does not mean the opposition is working.

“Trump was not in government, yet he got to work and told the Republicans, ‘Listen, what do we do? We have to be serious.’ You can’t sideline people and say you will fight someone just because you feel he is too influential.”