{
  "id": 2550703,
  "title": "My job is to give opposition leaders high blood pressure — Wike",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/22/my-job-is-to-give-opposition-leaders-high-blood-pressure-wike-2550703",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-22T10:18:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Punch",
    "slug": "punch",
    "url": "https://punchng.com/my-job-is-to-give-opposition-leaders-high-blood-pressure-wike/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria, recently spoke to journalists about his role in the ongoing political contest. According to Wike, his responsibility is to keep opposition leaders under pressure, ensuring they do not feel comfortable. This was highlighted during an inspection of infrastructure projects in Abuja.\n\nWike pointed out that the current political landscape makes it difficult to identify a strong leading opposition party due to the crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He stated, \"I’ve told you there is no position. What do you have people who are not trying to see whether they can be relevant? Who’s the opposition leader now? Ordinarily, it would have been PDP, but because of the crisis we have had, and so you can’t see a formidable party that you call a leading opposition party.\"\n\nWike emphasized that he is not concerned with the well-being of opposition leaders. He said, \"My business is to make them not to feel well all the days. Because they will be having high blood pressure. Yes, that’s my job.\" He further dismissed concerns about the feelings of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, the Labour Party's 2023 presidential candidate, stating that their reactions to political developments do not impact his priorities. Wike added, \"So how Atiku feels, how Obi feels, it does not give any headache. If I know how they feel now, I will add more crisis for them.\"",
  "summary": "FCT Minister Nyesom Wike declares his role is to keep opposition leaders under pressure, ensuring they don’t feel comfortable ahead of 2027 elections. Read More: https://punchng.com/my-job-is-to-give-opposition-leaders-high-blood-pressure-wike/",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Punch Nigeria",
        "title": "My job is to give opposition leaders high blood pressure — Wike",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/22/my-job-is-to-give-opposition-leaders-high-blood-pressure-wike",
        "published": "2026-08-22T10:10:14.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}