The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has described President Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s only credible leadership option.

The FCT minister said there was no other potential presidential contender who had demonstrated the courage or capacity to tackle the country’s long-standing economic challenges.

Mr Wike, who made the remarks on Tuesday during his monthly media briefing in Abuja, said Mr Tinubu’s removal of petrol subsidy was the boldest policy decisions taken by any Nigerian president in decades.

The minister, who acknowledged that the reforms imposed temporary hardship on Nigerians, argued that Mr Tinubu’s economic policies had strengthened the finances of state governments, improved infrastructure funding and ended states’ dependence on bank loans to pay workers’ salaries.

Mr Wike stated, “Asiwaju is the only person we have now. He has not done everything, and nobody says he has, but he has shown the courage to take decisions others refused to take. Give him credit for that.”

“When problems have accumulated for over 15 years, people expect them to be solved in one year. It doesn’t work that way. Healing takes time, but it will happen.

“The fuel subsidy consumed over N3 trillion at a time. Today, states receive more money. Pensioners are being paid, governors no longer queue before bank managers to borrow money just to pay salaries, and there are more resources for infrastructure,” he said.

The minister noted that genuine leadership required the resolve to make tough decisions even if they are unpopular.

“Everybody agreed that subsidy was a scam, but no president had the political will to remove it. President Tinubu took that decision. No decision is 100 per cent perfect, but leadership is about taking responsibility,” he said.