The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said he would have gone to Osun State to help the All Progressives Congress (APC) secure victory in the governorship election if President Bola Tinubu had wanted the party to win the poll “at all costs.”
Wike made the statement on Tuesday while speaking with journalists during an inspection of flood-prone areas in Maitama, Abuja.
The minister was responding to questions on the outcome of the Osun governorship election, which was won by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Governor Ademola Adeleke.
Wike, who remains a member of the PDP but has continued to support the Tinubu administration, said the APC could have won the election if the President had been determined to secure victory irrespective of the circumstances.
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 been a prominent member of the G5 group of PDP governors who opposed the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election.
Since Tinubu appointed him FCT minister, Wike has maintained his membership of the PDP while publicly supporting the President and some policies of his administration.
His latest comment underscores his claim that the APC could have secured victory in Osun had the President chosen to deploy greater political effort towards the election.
Wike has also remained politically active despite serving in an APC-led federal administration, maintaining that his support for Tinubu does not amount to abandoning the PDP.
