Wike: New strategy in place to checkmate Atiku, Obi in 2027

By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA: Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, has disclosed that a fresh political strategy has been put in place to counter former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress ADCvand presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress NDC, Peter Obi ahead of the 2027 general elections. Speaking after an inspection tour, which took him to Road S1, Kaura District; Collector Road C2, Life Camp; Arterial Road N16, Gwarinpa; the IBB Golf Course; and, the Gudu (Jereton Mariere Street) project by Apo Legislative Quarters, Wike clarified comments he had earlier made regarding the 2023 presidential election, which has continued to generate reactions. He explained that the Peoples Democratic Party’s PDP G5 bloc, of which he was a member, had deployed a calculated strategy during the 2023 poll aimed at denying Atiku votes from the South-South region, insisting that the former Vice President, rather than Obi, was the real threat to their political interests at the time.

“Our strategy was that, listen, you vote, make sure that you vote for Obi to win, in order to deny Atiku the votes,” he said, explaining that the South-South was traditionally a PDP stronghold, and had the region voted along party lines, Atiku would have won. Wike dismissed insinuations that the strategy amounted to manipulation of the outcome in Rivers State, maintaining that no evidence was ever tendered at the tribunal to support claims that the Labour Party had won the state. “Did anybody tender any result from Rivers State that, ‘Look, this is the result, we won’?

It’s unfortunate there’s nothing we can do,” he said, adding that every political camp, including the G5, operated with a defined strategy during the election. “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.” The minister further explained that his opposition was not Obi but Atiku, arguing that the perception of Obi’s strength was largely a social media construct rather than a reflection of the actual distribution of votes. “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. The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, has dismissed allegations that he rigged the 2023 presidential election in the South-South in favour of President Bola Tinubu against Labour Party candidate, Mr Peter Obi. Wike, who made the rebuttal in Abuja on Wednesday, described the claim as a ‘baseless narrative propagated primarily on social media”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that widespread criticism erupted across the political sphere after Wike’s remarks during an interview on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout, claiming that his G5 group of governors strategically allowed Obi to win in South-South. Critics, public commentators, and opposition figures argued that Wike’s statement was a public confession of voter manipulation. Reacting, Wike clarified that the results were the product of calculated electoral strategy aimed at neutralising major political threats rather than illegal manipulation.

Responding to critics who accused him of altering result sheets in favour of Tinubu, Wike mocked the notion that an individual could single-handedly dictate the outcome across thousands of polling units. “People who don’t understand, how can they say I rigged the election? So, I just took the result sheets, wrote it, and gave it to INEC?” he asked.