Election Petitions are not won on social media, says Wike

Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), claims that facts and evidence, not social media, should be used to settle election petitions.

On Thursday’s Politics Today programme on Channels Television, Wike, a leader in the Peoples Democratic Party, gave an exclusive interview.

The former governor of Rivers State applauded the Presidential Election Petitions Court for upholding President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the presidential election on February 25.

Wike stated that he did not support the PDP or its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the Tribunal “because I believe their position was wrong; I believe in equity, I believe in fairness, I believe in justice.”

“I have always told people that election petition is not like any other case; it’s a special area; it is not by propaganda, it is not won on social media, it is presentation of evidence, facts.

“I sat down for not less than 10 hours. Look at how the justices painstakingly took each item one by one, from the preliminary objections to the motions, down to the objections on documents and exhibits, down to substantial issues,” the minister said.

Wike, a lawyer, also said there was no need for the petitioners – Atiku; the PDP; the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi – to appeal the judgment because the Tribunal “affirmed” the will of Nigerians.