Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has declared that politicians like former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, will never be allowed to attain the presidency of Nigeria, describing him as a lunatic and a bloody thief.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja after a brief meeting with FCT Area Council chairmen, Wike launched a blistering verbal assault on Amaechi following reports that the African Democratic Congress politician told voters in Edo State that only thieves and mad people would vote for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Visibly enraged by the remarks, Wike openly questioned Amaechi’s mental stability, accusing him of hypocritical political warfare and calling out the media and the Independent Independent National Electoral Commission for allowing such volatile rhetoric to go unchecked.
He insisted that a lunatic or a known armed robber cannot preside over the affairs of Nigeria, questioning who could be a bigger thief than Amaechi and asking who his psychiatric doctor had been. The latest outburst highlights the continuous feud between Wike and Amaechi, two political heavyweights from Rivers State who have remained at loggerheads over political supremacy and strategic positioning ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Wike warned that if Amaechi continues to insult supporters of President Tinubu, he will face severe political resistance on his home turf, stating that it will be difficult for him to campaign in Rivers State because no politician can call voters madmen and thieves and expect to walk away free. He insisted that Amaechi has no moral standing to lecture Nigerians or aspire to the highest office in the land due to his track record as governor.
Challenging journalists to hold the former governor accountable for multi-million-dollar projects left unaccounted for, Wike pointed to the $39 million Justice Karibi-Whyte Hospital that was fully paid for but never built, a $10 million fumigation contract awarded to a Cuban firm to eliminate mosquitoes, a N68 billion monorail white elephant project abandoned in Port Harcourt, and $308 million in power asset sales from state gas turbines that he claimed were looted.
Wike maintained that Amaechi was indicted by a Judicial Panel of Inquiry and subsequently lost his appeals all the way to the Supreme Court, expressing frustration that the media still allows such a character to air inflammatory remarks on television.
Turning his attention to local issues in the capital city, Wike addressed the indefinite strike declared by the FCT chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, describing the action as political, baseless, and unacceptable. He clarified that the FCT Administration has no dispute with teachers and that all previously agreed terms are actively being implemented, adding that both the Trade Union Congress and the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools had disowned the strike.
Alleging that the FCT NLC chairman was a former area council aspirant under the ADC who is attempting to trigger an artificial crisis for political motives, Wike directed area council leadership to recall teachers and civil servants back to work, warning that a strict “no-work-no-pay” policy would be enforced against any worker who complies with the industrial action.
