Wike: PDP G5 Governors Backed Peter Obi to Prevent Atiku’s Victory in 2023 Elections

• FCT minister’s revelation demands probe, Says Dalung

Chuks Okocha and Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Minister of the Federal Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said Atiku Abubakar underperformed in the South-south geopolitical zone in the 2023 presidential election because G5 Governors in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) resolved to back the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi.

Wike made the revelation yesterday at a project inspection visit while clarifying his recent comments on the 2027 elections and the role of Rivers State and FCT.

He said the G5 governors adopted that strategy in the South-south, which incidentally was a PDP stronghold, in order to prevent Atiku, the party’s candidate, from securing the bulk of the votes enough to tilt the pendulum of electoral victory in his favour

The FCT minister said the G5 developed the strategy after assessing the political strength of the major contenders in the 2023 presidential election.

Wike said, “For example, the South-south, actually, was what you would call the PDP state. Being PDP states, it means that if you look at the difference between what the president had and what Atiku had, the difference was about two million.

“Now look at the votes from the South-south, where PDP didn’t make main route, that was what led to the loss of Atiku. And we felt that Atiku was more of a factor in that election than Obi.

“Our strategy was that, ‘listen, you vote, make sure that you vote for Obi to win, in order to deny Atiku the votes’. So, people wouldn’t understand, and be saying, ‘Oh, how would I have done it? I just took the result sheet, I wrote it, and gave it to INEC?’”

He also dismissed claims that the outcome in Rivers State was achieved by manipulating election results, stating that the political strategy adopted by the G5 contributed to the result.

Wike said the assumption that Obi won in Rivers was largely made up by the social media. He said it was not enough to win an election by solely by gaining the social media traffic.

He explained, “You have polling units of about 7,000, and probably you have seen 300 polling units. And then you jump to the conclusion that so-and-so person has won. You remember that they went to the tribunal? Did anybody tender any result from Rivers State that, ‘Look, this is the result, we won?’

“We have our strategy in this election, and whether you like it or not, it’s not for us to let the cat out of the bag. Why we said what we said, to tell you that every election has a strategy. The G5 had their strategy.

“South-south was purely a PDP state, purely a PDP state, and so if we had voted for PDP all through, then Atiku would have won, and that was the threat. Obi wasn’t the threat. Obi was merely a threat by social media or the South-east or the Igbo people; what is the percentage?

“When you are strategising to win an election, you look at a lot of factors: who is my threat? If this is my threat, this is a lesser threat, and I know what to do so as to make sure that the vote of my major threat does not increase.

“So, people should learn all this. It’s not about staying in the platform to say, ‘Oh, Obi was winning Rivers State.’ No, we strategised. Since this strategy made sure that Obi wins there, but the Rivers State, there is a factor. And that factor has to do with: you cannot say where Rivers State will go.

“When you talk about rigging, you cannot rig an election where you are not popular. You cannot! If you try that, then you see what happens; people will resist it. So, people should forget about this issue that Obi this or that.

“Assuming Obi won Rivers State, for example, add it for him, would he have won the election? So, people should come out with clear facts not social media issues.

“What I said was we had our strategy and that strategy worked well for us. Our major problem and opponent was Atiku Abubakar and if we didn’t do that, something would have happened.”

Wike’s 2023 Presidential Poll Revelation Demands Investigation, Declares Dalung

Former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, criticised Wike over his account of the strategy adopted by the defunct G-5 governors during the 2023 presidential election.

Reacting, in a Facebook post yesterday, Dalung said Wike’s comments amounted to an admission that political actors deliberately influenced the distribution of votes during the election for strategic reasons.

“He has always understood Nigerian politics as a transaction: power, access, influence and whatever political advantage can be extracted from the system,” Dalung said.

Dalung questioned why Wike’s disclosure had not triggered a serious institutional response.

He stated, “The real disgrace is not even Wike’s shamelessness. It is a country where politicians can publicly tell us how they interfered in an election and the national response is mostly: ‘Ah, Wike has spoken again.’ No investigation. No serious institutional reckoning. No consequences.”

According to Dalung, the issue should not be treated simply as another political statement, given Wike’s description of how the G-5 approached the 2023 election.

He said, “This was a sitting governor openly talking about how political actors deliberately manipulated the distribution of votes to produce a preferred political outcome.”

He also raised concerns about what political actors could do with the lessons they drew from the 2023 election as the country approached the 2027 general election.

Dalung stated, “And if this is what politicians are comfortable telling Nigerians about 2023 on national television, one question should concern every voter: what exactly are they planning to do with the lessons they learnt from 2023 in 2027?”