THE Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has boasted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would have won the Osun State governorship election if President Bola Tinubu had wanted the party to secure victory “at all costs.”
News Point Nigeria reports that Wike, who remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but has continued to support the Tinubu administration, said he would have personally gone to Osun State to help the APC win the election if the President had been determined to achieve victory irrespective of the circumstances, News Point Nigeria reports.
The former Rivers State governor made the statement on Tuesday while speaking with journalists during an inspection of flood-prone areas in Maitama, Abuja.
He was responding to questions on the outcome of the Osun governorship election, which was won by the PDP candidate and incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke.
Wike said the APC could have defeated Adeleke if President Tinubu had been determined to secure victory in the election.
He said, “If the President had wanted to win the Osun State election at all costs, I would have been there and we would have won it, and there’s nothing the governor can do.”
The minister’s comment came against the backdrop of the APC’s defeat in the election, with Adeleke declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Wike, a former governor of Rivers State, has remained a prominent member of the G5 group of PDP governors who opposed the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election.
Since President Tinubu appointed him as FCT minister, Wike has retained his membership of the PDP while publicly supporting the President and some policies of his administration.
His latest comment underscores his position that the APC could have secured victory in Osun had the President chosen to deploy greater political effort and resources towards the election.
Wike has also remained politically active despite serving in an APC-led Federal Government, maintaining that his support for Tinubu does not amount to abandoning the PDP.
