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By 247ureports.com
Social commentator and businessman Isaac Fayose has directly challenged FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s vow to resign if President Bola Tinubu fails to win the Federal Capital Territory and Rivers State in 2027, predicting instead that NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi will defeat Tinubu in both contests.
The Challenge
Reacting in a Facebook post Thursday to Wike’s Wednesday pledge — that he would submit his resignation on January 17, 2027, should Tinubu lose the FCT and Rivers — Fayose wrote: “Wike, I’m telling you that Abuja is Obi. Rivers State is also Obi. We are winning Abuja and Rivers. Wike, Abuja and Rivers are not yours.” He further suggested that some figures backing Tinubu’s re-election are motivated primarily by a desire to continue benefiting from his administration, alleging that “some people just want to perpetuate President Tinubu in power so that they will continue to enjoy.”
A Recurring Position
This is not a new stance for Fayose, younger brother of former Ekiti Governor Ayodele Fayose. He made nearly identical claims in a News Central TV appearance roughly two weeks earlier, declaring “Abuja is NDC, Abuja is Peter Obi” in direct response to Wike’s prior assertion that the opposition lacked sufficient popularity in the capital. At the time, Fayose argued the ruling APC’s only path to victory in the FCT would be through manipulated results, and said the NDC was developing strategies to guard against vote suppression and rigging. In a separate intervention weeks earlier, responding to reports that Tinubu had tipped Wike to coordinate the APC campaign in Rivers and the FCT, Fayose predicted flatly: “He will lose in Abuja. He will lose in Rivers because already we are stronger in Rivers and Abuja than the APC.”
The Numbers Behind the Claim
Fayose’s confidence traces back to 2023: Obi, then the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, won the FCT decisively with 281,717 votes against Tinubu’s 90,902 — a result Fayose has repeatedly cited as evidence the territory remains favorable to Obi heading into 2027.
The exchange is the latest flashpoint in an increasingly public rivalry between Wike and Obi-aligned figures, layered atop Wike’s separate, escalating standoff with APC governors over his proposed cross-party “Rainbow Coalition.” As of this report, Wike had not issued a direct response to Fayose’s latest remarks. Both men’s predictions remain, as with all 2027 campaign claims at this stage, unverified political positioning rather than settled electoral fact.
