The FCT Minister said the G5 governors deliberately allowed Peter Obi to benefit from votes in parts of the South-South where the PDP was strong, as part of a strategy aimed at limiting Atiku Abubakar’s advantage.
By Wapcodehub9ja LIVE News Desk
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has revealed details of the political strategy he said the G5 governors adopted during the 2023 presidential election to reduce the electoral advantage of then-PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.
Wike made the disclosure during an interview on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout, where he discussed the political calculations behind the 2023 election and the role played by the G5 governors in parts of the South-South.
According to Wike, the group identified the PDP’s strength in states such as Edo and Cross River as a potential advantage for Atiku. He said the strategy was therefore to allow Labour Party candidate Peter Obi to take votes that might otherwise have strengthened Atiku’s position.
Wike explained that the calculation was based on the belief that Obi’s victory in those areas would not provide him with the same political advantage that an Atiku victory would have provided to the PDP presidential candidate.
He specifically cited Edo and Cross River, saying the strategy was designed around the political strength of the PDP in the region and the desire to prevent Atiku from benefiting from that structure.
“Our problem will be Atiku. Therefore, instead of Atiku to take it, let it go to the Labour Party. That was our strategy,” Wike said, according to the reports of his interview.
The FCT Minister said Rivers State was treated differently because, according to him, the political consequences of an Obi victory there were considered significant. He said the group therefore decided that Obi should not win Rivers State.
Wike’s comments provide his account of the political calculations surrounding the G5 governors, a group made up of five PDP governors who opposed Atiku’s presidential candidacy and maintained their position outside the party’s presidential campaign structure during the 2023 election.
The G5 comprised Wike, then governor of Rivers State; Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; Samuel Ortom of Benue State; Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State; and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.
Wike has now linked the group’s 2023 strategy to the distribution of votes between Atiku and Obi in parts of the South-South, while arguing that the political circumstances surrounding the region have since changed ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
His latest comments come as political parties and major political figures intensify their preparations for the next presidential contest, with the 2023 voting patterns continuing to feature prominently in discussions about the changing political landscape.
Be the first to comment