The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has admitted collaborating with members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to defeat his personal occasion, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2024 Edo State governorship election, saying he has no regrets about his function.
Mr Wike stated the alliance was intentionally fashioned to forestall former Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo from putting in a successor, acknowledging that the collaboration between sections of the PDP and the APC helped the ruling occasion win the election.
“I was behind it, and I don’t have any regrets about it,” he stated.
According to The Punch, the minister spoke on Monday at a stakeholders’ assembly of the Rainbow Coalition, a cross-party political platform mobilising help for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
The admission reinforces Mr Wike’s historical past of working throughout occasion strains to affect electoral outcomes, together with his function in the 2023 presidential election, when he and 4 different aggrieved PDP governors refused to help their occasion’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
In September 2026, Mr Wike disclosed how the G-5 governors devised methods to forestall Atiku from benefiting from the PDP’s conventional electoral power in elements of the South-south, significantly Edo and Cross River states.
Speaking on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout, he stated the group thought of the PDP’s power in the area a possible benefit for Atiku and intentionally sought to redirect votes to the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in some states.
“How did he win? When the G-5, we sat, we had our strategy. We said in Edo, PDP is stronger in the South-south. Our problem will be Atiku. Therefore, instead of Atiku to take it, let it go to the Labour Party. That was our strategy. Cross River, the same thing. That’s what we did,” he stated.
Mr Wike additionally stated Rivers State was intentionally handled otherwise as a result of the group feared the political implications of Mr Obi successful the state.
“It was only Rivers that said, ‘No, we have a problem here in Rivers. Obi will not win here because if he wins, he sends a signal somewhere, people may not understand it.’ And we stopped…we stopped it,” he stated.
The remarks provided a uncommon public account of the political calculations behind the G-5 governors’ opposition to Mr Atiku, regardless of their membership of the PDP.
The group comprised Mr Wike, then Rivers governor; Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; Samuel Ortom of Benue State; Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State; and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.
The governors had demanded the resignation of the PDP’s then nationwide chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, arguing that the occasion’s presidential candidate and nationwide chairman shouldn’t each come from the North after eight years of northern management underneath President Muhammadu Buhari.
Their dispute with the PDP management continued into the 2023 common election, when Mr Wike brazenly maintained that his precedence was the emergence of a southern president moderately than the victory of a specific candidate.
Mr Tinubu, the APC candidate, received the presidential election, whereas Atiku completed second and Mr Obi third nationally.
In Rivers, the place Mr Wike was governor, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mr Tinubu the winner with 231,591 votes, towards Mr Obi’s 175,071 and Mr Atiku’s 88,468.
However, PREMIUM TIMES later reviewed outcomes uploaded to INEC’s Results Viewing Portal and located substantial discrepancies in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Mr Wike’s political stronghold. The newspaper’s evaluation indicated that Mr Obi had received the state primarily based on the polling-unit outcomes it examined, though lacking, illegible and improperly uploaded outcomes restricted the scope of the unbiased tally.
In March 2023, Mr Wike denied directing Rivers residents to vote towards Mr Obi, saying he had urged them to help nationwide unity. He additionally criticised the PDP management for failing to resolve the disaster that preceded the election.
Edo governorship election
Mr Wike’s newest admission considerations the September 2024 Edo governorship election, which the APC’s Monday Okpebholo won with 291,667 votes.
The PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, polled 247,274 votes, whereas the Labour Party candidate, Olumide Akpata, obtained 22,763 votes, in accordance to INEC’s introduced outcomes.
Mr Wike stated his opposition to Mr Ighodalo was not primarily based on the candidate’s {qualifications}. Rather, he stated, he needed to forestall Mr Obaseki from retaining political affect by means of his successor.
He recalled that Mr Ighodalo visited his residence a number of instances to search his help, however he declined to again him.
“He came to my house more than three times. I said, listen, you’re a good candidate. But for this election, I’m sorry,” Mr Wike stated.
He stated he advised Mr Ighodalo that supporting his candidacy would quantity to returning Mr Obaseki to energy not directly.
“This election is between us and the man who is bringing you, Governor Obaseki, an ingrate person, ungrateful person. So returning you is like bringing him back. So I’m sorry. You have to fail. And he failed,” he stated.
Mr Wike stated the outcome confirmed that political alliances throughout occasion strains have been a longtime characteristic of Nigerian elections.
“So when people say that nothing like coalition, they tell lies. The truth of the matter is that it has been there depending on how it is worked out,” he stated.
He particularly credited the collaboration between PDP loyalists and APC members with Mr Okpebholo’s victory, saying former APC nationwide chairman Adams Oshiomhole may attest to the alliance.
2027: Realignment
Mr Wike’s newest feedback observe political manoeuvring forward of the 2027 common election and disagreements throughout the APC over the Rainbow Coalition.
The minister has promoted the coalition as a platform by means of which politicians from totally different events can mobilise help for Mr Tinubu’s re-election with out essentially abandoning their present occasion affiliations.
Mr Wike stays a member of the PDP, regardless of serving in Mr Tinubu’s APC-led federal authorities. His help for the president has repeatedly put him at odds with sections of his occasion, which has struggled with inner divisions and questions over its political path.
At Monday’s assembly, Mr Wike additionally declared himself coordinator of Mr Tinubu’s re-election marketing campaign in the FCT and Rivers State.
Participants drawn from the PDP and APC reportedly agreed to work collectively for Mr Tinubu’s second time period and help APC candidates for the FCT senatorial and House of Representatives seats.
The newest declaration additional exhibits Mr Wike’s willingness to pursue electoral alliances throughout occasion strains, even when doing so means campaigning towards candidates of the occasion to which he formally belongs.
