By Omeiza Ajayi
Federal Capital Territory FCT minister and former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has launched a broad offensive against critics of his alignment with President Bola Tinubu, dismissing the Peoples Democratic Party’s PDP presidential bid as premature and unrealistic.
This was as he hit back at organisations he accused of hypocrisy over land allocation criticisms, and announced the completion of the long-delayed relocation of the Apo Mechanic Village to Wasa.
The minister spoke on Thursday in Abuja after an inspection of several projects.
Responding to criticisms from former Anambra PDP Chairman Dan Ulasi and other party chieftains who have questioned his closeness to the presidency, the minister described his position as grounded in political realism rather than sentiments, and turned the fire back on his detractors.
He accused critics of failing to deliver electoral results in their own states, pointing specifically to the PDP’s poor performance in Anambra as evidence that those attacking him lacked the moral authority to do so. He also suggested their criticisms were laying the groundwork for their own future defections, including to the Labour Party LP.
Wike argued that the PDP was in no condition to mount a credible presidential campaign, saying the party could not “contest for contesting’s sake” without first resolving the structural collapse that has defined recent years.
He revealed that even some unnamed presidential aspirants privately admitted to him that winning the last election would have been “difficult” given the party’s fractured internal state.
“The PDP’s path back to relevance lies not in presidential ambitions but in a total structural overhaul,” he said, insisting the party must rebuild from the ward, local government and state levels upward before eyeing the presidency.
“Every election is local,” he added, warning that success in one state like Rivers could not be assumed to replicate elsewhere.
On his administration’s land allocation policy, Wike slammed organisations he said were questioning the government’s allocation of land to diplomatic personnel while themselves sit on plots allocated to them by the FCTA at no market cost.
He specifically named Channels TV and AIT, stating both operate from headquarters built on FCT-allocated land. “When you are living in a glass house, don’t throw stones. You were given land, and you are not among the poor, so why are you complaining now?” he said.
The minister also moved to correct what he described as a misconception about land transactions in the FCT, clarifying that the government does not sell land but allocates it on the basis of developmental agreements, with all allottees — including diplomats — required to pay procedural fees for processing their Certificate of Occupancy.
He added that many of the allocations being questioned were made by previous administrations, and warned that land allocated for development but left idle for up to 20 years would be reclaimed for new investors.
On infrastructure delivery, Wike announced that the relocation of the Apo Mechanic Village — described as a “burning issue” for several past administrations — had under the current administration moved from promise to reality, with the Wasa relocation site nearing full completion.
He said the project is not merely a land-use solution but a deliberate revenue strategy, saying the move of informal businesses into organized, infrastructure-rich hubs would allow the FCT administration to more effectively capture taxes that previously escaped the system.
“We have provided the infrastructure needed; it’s just for them to come in and set up. And then from that place, we will collect our necessary taxes,” he said.
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