Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has urged Nigerians to prioritize competence over sentiments in the 2027 general elections, calling on voters to reject politicians he described as political gamblers who use deception and political stunts to win office.
Speaking at the inaugural Idoma Hall of Fame Induction in Abuja on Thursday, Wike said Nigeria’s pursuit of fairness would remain unfinished if citizens focused only on which region or ethnic group held power, without asking how that power was used.
He said the country’s future depends on choosing leaders based on performance rather than ethnicity or entitlement.
“If one group replaces another at the table while the benefits remain fundamentally exclusionary, the occupants have changed, but the injustice has not,” he said.
Wike warned against treating public office as a route to personal wealth or sectional advantage.
He said citizens should reject politicians who exploit complaints of marginalization to advance personal interests.
He supported Nigeria’s federal character principle, which is meant to prevent a few states or groups from dominating public institutions.
He said, however, representation should not come at the expense of competence.
“A Nigerian should not be excluded from public office because of where he or she comes from; neither should competence become irrelevant once a candidate’s identity satisfies a representational expectation,” Wike added.
The Minister argued that political inclusion should be judged by real outcomes: jobs, quality education, health care, infrastructure, electricity, security and economic opportunity.
He said appointing a prominent official from a community means little if its residents still face unemployment, poor services and hardship.
He stated that Nigeria has used federalism, state creation, revenue allocation, zoning and rotational presidency to manage its diversity.
Those arrangements alone cannot guarantee fairness, and called for a political culture that treats public office as a trust rather than an entitlement, the Minister said.
