{"id":17271,"date":"2026-11-13T20:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T20:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/ndc-to-wike-stop-distracting-nigerians-over-obi\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T20:00:45","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T20:00:45","slug":"ndc-to-wike-stop-distracting-nigerians-over-obi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/ndc-to-wike-stop-distracting-nigerians-over-obi\/","title":{"rendered":"NDC to Wike: Stop distracting Nigerians over Obi"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NDC<\/p>\n

By Henry Umoru<\/p>\n

ABUJA \u2014 The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has asked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to stop distracting Nigerians with his criticism of the party\u2019s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, over the rendition of the old national anthem at a town hall meeting in Lagos.<\/p>\n

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The party said Nigerians were more concerned about the state of the economy and the hardship it attributed to the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government than the controversy surrounding the national anthem.<\/p>\n

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The NDC was reacting to Wike\u2019s criticism of Obi for allegedly failing to stand during the rendition of the current national anthem while rising for the old anthem at the party\u2019s town hall meeting in Lagos.<\/p>\n

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Wike had described the action as evidence of lawlessness and an attempt to divide the country.<\/p>\n

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The minister spoke at a stakeholders\u2019 town hall meeting in Ogu-Bolo Local Government Area of Rivers State, organised under the Rainbow Coalition to mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu\u2019s re-election bid and APC candidates in the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n

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However, in a statement issued on Thursday by the Spokesperson of the NDC National Campaign Council, Dr. Chiogo Constance Ikokwu, the party questioned Wike\u2019s moral authority to lecture others on political tolerance and national unity.<\/p>\n

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Ikokwu said the minister should reflect on his own political activities before criticising Obi.<\/p>\n

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She said, \u201cIt is extraordinary that someone whose political conduct in and outside Rivers State has been widely associated with deep divisions, political upheaval and prolonged instability, can suddenly appoint himself the moral referee of Nigerian politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis role in the political controversies surrounding the 2023 presidential election in Rivers, his open political manoeuvring across party lines \u2014 PDP\/APC \u2014 and the confusion his actions have generated make his latest sermon particularly difficult to take seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot be an arsonist in your own backyard and turn up elsewhere preaching fire safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinister Wike has no moral authority to lecture others on political tolerance, unity or responsible leadership. He should put his own house in order before attempting to police the conduct of others.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NDC spokesperson further explained that the rendition of the old national anthem at the Lagos event was spontaneous and initiated by supporters, rather than being part of a planned programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the avoidance of doubt, the rendition of the old national anthem in Lagos was entirely impromptu, initiated by the people themselves. It was not scripted, orchestrated or planned by anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was simply in the moment, as expressed by citizens, nothing more, nothing less. And if you watched another part of the video, they went on to sing the current national anthem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ikokwu urged Wike to shift attention from the anthem controversy to issues affecting Nigerians, particularly the economy and the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinister Wike should stop distracting Nigerians from the gargantuan failures of the government he\u2019s trying very hard to sell.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to focus on the issues that matter to Nigerians in this election \u2014 the economy, and the crippling hardship inflicted by the APC government,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The post NDC to Wike: Stop distracting Nigerians over Obi<\/a> appeared first on Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: <\/p>\n

Vanguard News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Henry Umoru ABUJA \u2014 The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has asked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to stop distracting Nigerians with his criticism of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17272,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}