By Toyin Adebayo
ABUJA 鈥 Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has stated that no amount of 鈥渃oalition politics鈥 or propagan-da can erase the visible results of President Bola Ahmed Tinu-bu鈥檚 administration, challeng-ing critics to present their own scorecards rather than inciting discontent among Nigerians.
Wike mocked opposition fig-ures at the commissioning of the newly rehabilitated Aguma Pal-ace-Radio Nigeria-New Market Road in Gwagwalada Area Coun-cil on Friday, claiming that they are pained by the FCT鈥檚 rapid transformation under Tinubu鈥檚 leadership.
鈥淢r. President, today is the 16th day that you have dedicated time to personally participate in commissioning ceremonies,鈥 Wike stated.
鈥淚 had no idea people were so upset that so many things were going so well in the FCT until last night, when I saw one of the coalition party鈥檚 presidential candidates, an industrialist, so upset that the President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation were all coming to commission projects. Yet they claim that the people are angry!鈥
Wike turned to the jubilant Gwagwalada crowd and asked pointedly: 鈥淕wagwalada peo-ple, are you angry?鈥 The crowd roared back, 鈥淣o!鈥
The Minister lambasted oppo-sition figures for forming 鈥渇ake coalitions鈥 to divert Nigerians鈥 attention away from the admin-istration鈥檚 tangible projects.
鈥淚 never asked anyone, but they said the coalition began 18 months ago. Mr. President has been in office for two years. So you formed a coalition when he was six months into the office! When will you stop deceiving Nigerians?鈥 Wike thundered.
He challenged previous lead-ers to reveal their legacies rather than hide behind empty rhetoric.
鈥淪omeone came into the office six months ago, and you claim Ni-gerians are angry. But you were Senate President for eight years, Speaker for four years, and Min-ister of Transport for eight years. Yet you never made angry Nige-rians happy, and now you want to return to power. You will not be back!鈥
He declared this era 鈥極pera-tion Show Your Scorecard,鈥 in-sisting that leaders take respon-sibility for the opportunities they had to serve the people.
He recounted his own political battles, reminding the audience of his victories over powerful godfathers and 鈥渟uper ministers鈥 who failed the people.
鈥淚n 2015, I defeated a powerful governor who wanted his boy to be governor. 2019 saw a super minister borrow money from everywhere, leaving us heavily in debt.鈥