Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr. Nyesom Wike, has revealed how he and other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders worked with former Benue Governor, Samuel Ortom, to frustrate the presidential ambition of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 elections.
Wike made the disclosure during his routine monthly live media chat on Wednesday, in Port Harcourt, the capital city of Rivers State, monitored in Abuja, where he spoke on internal politics within the PDP and the build-up to the 2027 elections.
According to him, the G5 governors, also known as the Integrity Group, took a collective decision to oppose Atiku’s candidacy because of issues of equity, fairness and power rotation within the PDP.
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“Let me tell you how we used Ortom to block Atiku in Benue. It was a decision we took together as a group. We were fighting for the soul of the party,” Wike disclosed.
He noted that the 2023 election results in Benue and other states showed the impact of the G5’s stance.
Wike, who is currently serving as FCT Minister in the APC-led administration of President Bola Tinubu, said he remains a PDP member but will continue to prioritize what he described as “national interest and fairness in politics.”
Wike, therefore, declared that he would be the first politician to suffer the consequences should former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Party (PDP) or Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, citing the intensity of his open support for the President.
He said his commitment to Tinubu’s re-election has made him a marked target of the opposition, insisting he has no regrets over his political stance. He said he remained focused solely on Tinubu’s victory regardless of the personal political cost.
“I will be the first politician that I think they will come after. I will be the first politician. I know they will come for my head.
“Each day I sleep, I am thinking about the President’s reelection. When I am eating, I think about the president’s reelection. Everything I am doing now is about the president’s reelection,” he stated.
Wike said he was not bothered by the criticisms coming his way because he supported the President, noting that he has been vilified more than any other politician for his loyalty.
“I don’t see where anybody in this country today that has been called names the way my name has been. I am not bothered about people who say their [own] thing. My business is, like I said, I am going to support Mr President,” he declared.