Why Peter Obi lost presidential election – Wike

• Wike said he is a realist and he knew Obi won’t win the February 25, 2023 poll
• Obi was the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the controversial election

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has asserted that Peter Obi did not win the February 25th presidential election.

Obi was the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the controversial election.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Thursday, Wike said he decided to support President Bola Tinubu because he knew he was going to win.

The Presidential Election Petitions Court had Wednesday upheld Tinubu’s victory, throwing out the petitions of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM); the petitions of the PDP and its flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar; as well as the petitions of LP and Obi.

Both Atiku and Obi have rejected the Tribunal’s verdict and vowed to seek redress at the Supreme Court.

Speaking on the development, Wike said he is a realist and he knew Obi won’t win the February 25, 2023 poll.

“I know that he won’t win the election. Let me tell you the truth, I am a realist,” the FCT minister said, explaining that he supported Tinubu rather than Obi or Atiku, who happened to be in the same party as himself (Wike).

“For me, the way the election went, it was a tough election. I give it to INEC (the Independent National Electoral Commission),” he said.

Wike said sentiments aside, Obi couldn’t have won the election. “Yes, as a young man, people would have preferred that but look at how the votes went,” he said.

“There is this generational change, the young people were tired. So, for them, the only hope they had was to vote for Obi as a younger person compared to other candidates.

“But unknown to them, that is not the reality of Nigerian politics. They didn’t take into cognisance that ethnicity is a factor. They didn’t take into cognisance that religion is a factor, not only competence; that is the reality of Nigerian politics,” the ex-governor of Rivers State said