Why I visited APC chairman — Wike

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed the furore over his visit to the All Progressives Congress APC national chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, on Tuesday, declaring that he does not practice “politics of enmity” and owed no one public account of his private associations.

Wike, who spoke with journalists during an inspection of ongoing road construction in Karu, Apo-Karshi and Kubwa yesterday, dismissed the controversy as a misreading of a straightforward personal gesture between two former ministerial colleagues.

He said:  “We were all colleagues before he left for the chairmanship of APC. So what I should do anytime I see him is to hide? Anytime he sees me, he should run away, so people will not say something.’’

The minister revealed that the visit was, in fact, a reciprocal one, as Yilwatda had made several unsuccessful attempts to see him in his office.

Wike said since the APC chairman could not secure a formal appointment, he decided to call on him at his residence to hear him out.

On why no formal briefing followed the meeting, Wike was unapologetic, maintaining that he was under no obligation to disclose the details of his private life or social interactions to the public.

He also dismissed the notion that politicians belonging to different parties must keep their distance from one another.

Wike, who remains a member of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, despite serving in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet, argued that freedom of association transcended party lines and that reading political conspiracy into ordinary human interaction was misguided.

His primary concern, he said, was the satisfaction of his “appointor” and the delivery of visible results for residents of the FCT, not managing public perception or second-guessing what, as he put it, “somebody on the road is thinking.”

“What’s important to me is what I’m doing for my people,” Wike said, insisting that the quality of his work carried far more weight than political speculation.