Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has explained how the Peoples Democratic Party’s G5 governors strategised during the 2023 presidential election to prevent former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from benefiting from votes in the South-South.
Wike said the group considered Atiku a bigger political threat than Labour Party candidate Peter Obi and therefore encouraged voters in some states to support Obi.
“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.
He said the South-South was traditionally a stronghold of the PDP and that allowing Atiku to secure the region’s votes could have strengthened his position in the election.
“South-South was purely a PDP state, and so if we had voted for PDP all through, then Atiku would have won. That was a threat,” he said.
Wike said the strategy was applied in states including Edo and Cross River, where the G5 believed the PDP was strong enough to benefit Atiku.
He, however, said Rivers State was treated differently because of the political implications of allowing Obi to win 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 it,” he said.
The former Rivers State governor rejected allegations that the strategy amounted to manipulation of the 2023 election.
Wike argued that no evidence was presented at the election tribunal to establish claims that Obi had won Rivers State.
“Did anybody tender any result from Rivers State that, ‘Look, this is the result, we won’? Did anybody?” he asked.
The G5 consisted of Wike and four other PDP governors — Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu.
The group had opposed Atiku’s emergence as the PDP’s presidential candidate in 2023 and demanded that the party’s presidential ticket be zoned to the South.
Wike has since declared his support for President Bola Tinubu’s bid for a second term in 2027, while Atiku and Obi are preparing to contest the election on separate opposition platforms.
