The African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has fired back at the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, over Wike’s recent remark on Atiku not getting 10% of votes in the next year’s general elections.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former Vice President said the electorate in Rivers State is intelligent enough to decide the outcome of elections in the state.
He stated that no individual, regardless of influence or access to federal power, can dictate how an entire state will vote.
Wike had vowed that Atiku would not secure up to 10 per cent of the total votes cast in the 2027 presidential election in Rivers State.
In a swift response, Atiku said that the minister’s comments only exposed the growing panic within the Tinubu camp over the emergence of a formidable opposition coalition under the ADC.
According to him, Nigerians are more concerned about the soaring cost of living, worsening insecurity, and economic hardship than the political predictions of a minister who appears to have abandoned governance for perpetual electioneering.
He added that it was both amusing and disturbing that Wike now speaks as though Rivers voters are his personal property to be allocated at will.
“Rivers vote are not your property. The people of Rivers State are not political slaves. They are intelligent, independent-minded Nigerians who will make their choices based on the realities confronting them and the future they desire for their children.
“No individual, regardless of influence or access to federal power, can dictate how an entire state will vote,” he said.
