{"id":69777,"date":"2025-07-06T07:53:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=69777"},"modified":"2025-07-06T07:53:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:53:59","slug":"wike-defends-rolls-royce-ownership-says-he-comes-from-wealthy-background","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/07\/06\/wike-defends-rolls-royce-ownership-says-he-comes-from-wealthy-background\/","title":{"rendered":"Wike Defends Rolls-Royce Ownership, Says He Comes from Wealthy Background"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adewunmi Oluwaseun<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has defended his ownership of a Rolls-Royce, stating that he did not need political office to afford luxury, as he hails from a well-off family.<\/p>\n

Wike made the remarks on Friday while reacting to comments made by his predecessor and political rival, Rotimi Amaechi, who had questioned his source of wealth during a recent interview on Channels Television\u2019s Politics Today.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the same programme, Wike described the allegations as baseless and rooted in ignorance about his background.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father was the manager of many companies,\u201d Wike said. \u201cI come from a rich background, not like the Dangotes, but certainly not poor. As a student, I was already using a Mercedes-Benz.\u201d<\/p>\n

He insisted that the Rolls-Royce was not a gift from any contractor, but something he bought with his own money.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a Rolls-Royce; nobody gave it to me; I bought it for myself,\u201d Wike affirmed.<\/p>\n

The minister accused Amaechi of hypocrisy, saying the former Rivers State governor lives in luxury while claiming to be modest.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t claim to be a modest man when you own mansions in GRA and prime locations in Abuja,\u201d Wike stated. \u201cHe has a house in Guzape. You can\u2019t be poor and own such properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further accused Amaechi of receiving a luxury car from a contractor while in office; an act he described as bribery.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone said I was given a Rolls-Royce by a contractor. That\u2019s a lie. That\u2019s what he did, not me. That\u2019s why he\u2019s angry,\u201d Wike said.<\/p>\n

Describing his former ally as \u201cone of the most corrupt people,\u201d Wike said Amaechi had no moral authority to speak on issues of wealth or integrity.<\/p>\n

Responding to a question on whether he is corrupt, Wike denied the allegation, noting that no court has ever convicted him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you use the word corrupt, no court has found me guilty of corruption,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like money. Everyone needs money. I need money to pay school fees and for my family\u2019s healthcare. Does that make me corrupt? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wike emphasized that his financial background and life choices should not be compared to those of Amaechi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a bush man. I\u2019m from Obio\/Akpor. My father was among the few who had duplexes on Ikwerre Road.<\/p>\n

“You can\u2019t compare our backgrounds. We are not on the same level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wike and Amaechi, both former governors of Rivers State, have a long history of political rivalry. Their latest exchange adds to a longstanding feud marked by ideological differences and personal animosity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adewunmi Oluwaseun Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has defended his ownership of a Rolls-Royce, stating that he did not need political office to afford luxury, as he hails from a well-off family. Wike made the remarks on Friday while reacting to comments made by his predecessor and political rival, Rotimi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":69744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,172],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-69777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abuja-reports","category-news","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69778,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69777\/revisions\/69778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}