The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has accused the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, of performative politics.
He argued that Obi’s politics was aimed at appealing to public sentiment rather than demonstrating genuine capacity for governance.
NEWSNGR reports that Wike made the allegation on Tuesday during his monthly media chat.
Wike also questioned Obi’s capacity to lead Nigeria, dismissing what he described as the popular narrative surrounding the former Anambra State governor.
The former Rivers State governor said he was familiar with Obi’s administrative record and political character, arguing that his assessment was based on firsthand knowledge rather than public perception.
According to him, “I know Peter Obi very well. What I don’t like is playing to the gallery. What I am not used to, what I don’t do, or what I have not done, I won’t do simply because I want to be in power.”
The FCT Minister criticised Obi’s public engagements such as high-profile visits to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and charity homes on personal anniversaries, framing them as calculated PR exercises rather than genuine acts of empathy.
“I was a governor. I have never attended birthday parties in an IDP camp. I’ve never gone to do my birthday with motherless homes simply because you want to be a president, and people say, ‘Oh, this is the type of person we want.’ No, you are carried away with that kind of sentiment,” Wike noted
Beyond his personal broadsides against Obi, Wike drew a sharp distinction between populist rhetoric and the difficult choices required for true national restoration.
Defending the current administration’s economic policy, specifically the controversial removal of the fuel subsidy, Wike argued that leadership requires the political courage to enforce painful but necessary decisions rather than playing to public sentiment.
“When a situation is bad, worse, to the worst situation, people expect that problems that have taken over 15 years should be solved within one year,” Wike explained.
He said, “No decision can be 100 per cent right, but what makes leadership is the ability for you to take a decision. Nobody had that political will to say, ‘If this is bad, let us stop it.”
