AbdulRazaq Created Kwara Political Crisis, but now Blaming me for the Fallout – Wike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has accused Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of creating the political crisis rocking the state and attempting to blame him for its fallout.

Wike said AbdulRazaq pushed three senators and several members of the House of Representatives out of the All Progressives Congress (APC) political arrangement, only to accuse him of sponsoring them after some found accommodation in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“He has been the one championing this campaign against me everywhere. I mean the Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and I have confronted him about it,” Wike said.

“You removed three senators; you removed members of the House of Representatives. You must be a super governor to survive that.

“Strategically, if you try to remove all these people, you have a crisis in your hands, and you have to be very, very careful.”

The crisis took a dramatic turn with the defection of Kwara Central Senator Saliu Mustapha from the APC to the PDP, where he subsequently emerged as the party’s senatorial candidate.

Mustapha’s defection, alongside the exit of other prominent APC figures, has rattled the political establishment in Kwara and significantly altered calculations ahead of the 2027 elections.

Wike questioned what AbdulRazaq expected the displaced politicians to do after shutting them out of the APC, saying they could have joined the ADC or NDC, where their support for President Bola Tinubu could not be guaranteed.

“These senators you removed, you have no place for them. Therefore, did you prefer them to go to ADC or to go to NDC, which is opposing Mr President fervently?” he asked.

Wike said rather than appreciate that the politicians joined a PDP tendency still supporting Tinubu, AbdulRazaq had resorted to portraying him as the mastermind of opposition against his government.

“The Governor of Kwara State now takes this propaganda to their own level, saying that Wike is now sponsoring a candidate in Kwara because I am supporting Saraki,” he said.

Wike dismissed the allegation, insisting that his support for Tinubu did not mean the PDP would stop fielding candidates against the APC.

“Did I have any agreement that now that we are supporting Mr President, PDP will not have any candidate anywhere?” he asked.