Barrister Nysom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has revealed that a new political strategy is already being plotted to counter Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi ahead of the 2027 general elections.
While speaking after a tour of infrastructure projects across FCT, Wike who did not disclose the plan cleared the air on controversial remarks regarding the 2023 presidential election, which have continued to stir political reactions across the country.
Clarifying the actions of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) rebellious “G5” bloc of which he was a key figure, Wike explained that their primary target in 2023 was Atiku, not Obi.
According to him, the G5 deployed a calculated maneuver to siphon votes away from Atiku in the South-South region, a traditional PDP stronghold.
“Our strategy was that, listen, you vote, make sure that you vote for Obi to win, in order to deny Atiku the votes,” Wike said, noting that had the South-South voted strictly along party lines, Atiku would have clinched the presidential election.
The minister dismissed ongoing allegations that the G5’s approach amounted to rigging or manipulating election outcomes in Rivers State.
He asserted that no party provided credible evidence before the election tribunal to support claims that the Labour Party won the state.
“Did anybody tender any result from Rivers State that, ‘Look, this is the result, we won’? Did anybody? It’s unfair. It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing we can do,” he stated. He added that every political camp operates on covert calculations: “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.”
Wike further downplayed Peter Obi’s political weight, arguing that his perceived dominance was largely a social media phenomenon rather than a true reflection of the ballot baseline.
“When you are strategizing 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,” Wike explained. “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.”
