I Will Tackle Atiku Again In 2027, Says Wike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said that he will be deploying new strategies to beat the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2027 presidential elections.

The minister, who spoke in Abuja during a road project commissioning, however, did not disclose the ‘strategies” to be adopted.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is the presidential candidate of the ADC while Mr. Peter Obi is running with the NDC ticket. Wike is supporting the re-election of President Bola Tinubu who is contesting on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform.

Wike recalled how he worked against Atiku in the 2023 presidential election, saying that the ADC candidate should not expect anything different in the 2027 race.

The combined force of the G-5 group of five governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which worked against Atiku in the last election no longer existed, a development Wike said would not hinder the strategy to stop Atiku again in 2027.

Stating that the presidential ambition of the ADC candidate posed a threat to his own political interest, the Minister Atiku will be denied votes in the South South zone, as was the case in 2023.

According to him, the defunct G-5 was not particularly against Obi’s aspirations during the 2023 election, stressing that his group placed the interest of the former Anambra State governor who contested on the platform of the Labour Party above Atiku.

“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 he rigged the presidential election in Rivers State for Tinubu and his APC, saying that no evidence was no evidence to support the claim.

“Did anybody tender any result from Rivers State that, ‘Look, this is the result, we won’? Did anybody? It’s unfair. 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. 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”, he said.