Wike: Amaechi Would Have Taken Glory if Atiku Had Won in 2023

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has claimed that former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi

, would have taken credit for the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election if its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had emerged victorious.

Wike made the statement on Monday during his monthly press briefing in Abuja.

“In 2023, he [Amaechi] came and said he was going to support Atiku in PDP,” Wike said. “Thank God we did not support PDP. If we had supported PDP and they won, he would have taken the glory.

 

“We said okay, we won’t support PDP and they didn’t get up to 10 percent.”

Wike, a prominent member of the PDP, was at the centre of the party’s internal crisis leading up to the 2023 general elections. He, along with other aggrieved southern leaders of the party, opposed Atiku’s candidacy following the PDP’s decision to zone both the party chairmanship and presidential ticket to the North.

The former Rivers governor insisted that for the sake of fairness, equity, and national balance, the PDP should have zoned its presidential ticket to the South.

The party’s refusal to adhere to this demand ultimately led Wike to break ranks with the PDP leadership and lend his support to the eventual winner of the election, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Wike’s remarks underscore the lingering tensions within the PDP and the broader implications of zoning and internal party democracy on electoral outcomes in Nigeria.