Wike backs APC’s Aduda for FCT Senate seat

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA – Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, has endorsed Senator Philip Tanimu Aduda for the FCT Senatorial seat on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Wike made the declaration at a stakeholders’ thank-you rally convened by FCT indigenous peoples and led by the Ona of Abaji and Chairman of the FCT Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Baba Yunusa, in Abuja.

At the event, the FCT Council of Chiefs turbaned Wike with the title “Hasken Abuja” — meaning Light of Abuja — in recognition of his infrastructure drive across the nation’s capital.

Responding to the monarchs’ requests for expanded senatorial representation and stronger legislative presence, Wike, now the national leader of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP argued that the territory’s interests could only be defended by a senator with seniority and institutional clout.

“I will tell you where I stand because I mean well for you. I will support Senator Philip Tanimu Aduda. Aduda has been in the Senate; he was the Senate Minority Leader. If he goes back, he carries experience, and he’s ranking. When he’s talking, his colleagues will listen to him”, he said.

Wike told the traditional rulers that the Senate operates on the currency of experience and influence, describing it as a chamber for “eyeball to eyeball” negotiations — an arena, he said, where seniority determines outcomes.

He argued that a first-term legislator entering such an environment without established standing would be ineffective in securing concessions for the FCT.

Without naming the individual directly, Wike referenced a sitting Council Chairman who he said was angling for a Senate seat before even completing his tenure in local government.

“You cannot take somebody who has had experience in the National Assembly for over 14 years as somebody who has not completed a second term as Chairman. If you play politics on that kind of thing, it will consume you”, he said.

The minister also reminded the monarchs that despite the FCT recording less than six per cent support for President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 elections, the president had continued to prioritise infrastructure in the territory.

He cited upcoming projects in Orozo and Bwari, as well as the approval of tractors for all 17 FCT chiefdoms, as evidence of presidential goodwill.

“You made a mistake in 2023… but he still remembered that you are Nigerians. Now that you have expressed that you are backing him, what will happen? More things will come to you”, he said.

Wike urged the monarchs to reciprocate the gesture as the election season draws closer.

On the recurring industrial actions disrupting schools in the FCT, Wike turned to incoming council chairmen and told them that there was “no excuse whatsoever” for children to be kept out of classrooms by strikes. He called on local leaders to resolve such disputes rather than lament them.