Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has said that the supporters of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, do not understand how politics works in Nigeria. Wike said this in an interview on Channels TV on Thursday, a day after the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal reaffirmed the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Wike said that he knew Obi would not win the election, even though the youths want a generational change and gave their support to him because he was the only younger candidate among those who contested. “I know that he [Obi] won’t win the election. Let me tell you the truth, I am a realist. Yes, as a young man, people would have preferred that he won but look at how the votes went,” Wike 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.” Wike said that Obi’s supporters did not take into account the factors that are important in Nigerian politics, such as ethnicity and religion.
“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,” Wike said. He added that Obi’s supporters should have been more strategic in their approach to the election.
