Wike: Obi’s camp lobbied me so much before 2023 polls — they can’t deny it

Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), says the camp of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, is fighting him.

Wike spoke on Saturday during a private luncheon with stakeholders in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital.

The luncheon was hosted by Wike in honour of the Martin Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers house of assembly.

During the event, the FCT minister aimed digs at his political opponents.

The former Rivers governor said he refused to support Obi for the 2023 presidential election despite being lobbied “so much” for support.

He added that some persons in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who want the party’s presidential ticket in 2027, are also ganging up against him.

Wike boasted that his political enemies would not emerge victorious.

“Let me tell you what is going on. I have no regret at all for supporting President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. I have no regret about it,” he said.

“All these things you are seeing… there is Atiku’s group, Peter Obi’s group and some few governors of the PDP who believe I’m a problem to them. I will continue to be a problem to them.

“Atiku’s group believes that I and my team stopped them from becoming president. What we stopped was injustice. All we wanted was equity and fairness.

“Obi’s group — they lobbied me so much. They can’t deny it. I said, ‘look, this won’t fly. Rivers state will not go to where we will not… it won’t fly’. There is also a gang-up. They are fighting us back. They are fighting themselves.

“There is another gang-up within the PDP who wants to be president and they say, ‘look if we don’t do anything now we have a problem’. I can assure you they will have a problem.

“There is another APC — very prominent. All these people combined, they will lose.”

In the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, Wike refused to support the ambition of PDP’s Atiku Abubakar and LP’s Obi and instead backed Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) standard bearer.