Wike addresses allegations of rigging 2023 election for Tinubu in South-South

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has rejected allegations that he manipulated the 2023 presidential election in the South-South to favour President Bola Tinubu over Labour Party candidate Peter Obi.

Wike addressed the allegation on Wednesday in Abuja while speaking with journalists, describing the claim as a “baseless narrative propagated primarily on social media.”

The controversy followed comments Wike made during an appearance on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout, where he disclosed that the G5 group of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors adopted a strategy aimed at preventing the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, from benefiting from the PDP’s traditional strength in the South-South.

According to Wike, the strategy involved allowing Obi to secure votes in some parts of the region rather than allowing Atiku to benefit from the PDP’s dominance.

He, however, maintained that the political strategy should not be interpreted as evidence that he personally rigged the election.

“People who don’t understand, how can they say I rigged the election? How would I have done it? So, I just took the result sheets, wrote it, and gave it to INEC?” Wike asked.

The FCT minister also dismissed the idea that election results could be determined based on the limited polling-unit data often discussed on social media.

“I’ve always said social media does not win elections. You have about 176,000 polling units, and probably you have seen 300 polling units and then you rush to the conclusion that so-and-so has won,” he said.

Wike further argued that allegations of electoral manipulation should have been backed by evidence during the legal challenges that followed the 2023 presidential election.

“You remember that when they went to the tribunal, did anybody tender any result from Rivers to say, ‘look, this is the result, we won’?” he said.

Explaining the G5’s calculations, Wike said the group considered Atiku a greater political threat because of the PDP’s established support base across the South-South.

“We felt that Atiku was more of a factor in that election than Obi. So our strategy was that, make sure that you vote for Obi to win in order to deny Atiku the votes,” he said.

Wike said the approach was adopted in parts of the region, including Edo and Cross River, while Rivers was treated differently because of concerns about the political implications of an Obi victory there.

He also argued that Obi’s popularity on social media should not be confused with the ability to determine the outcome of a presidential election.

“Obi wasn’t a threat. Obi was merely a threat by social media. Even if Obi had secured Rivers outright, it would not have altered the outcome of the presidential race,” Wike said.

The minister maintained that genuine grassroots support was necessary for any candidate to secure votes, arguing that election manipulation could not simply create support where none existed.

“When you talk about rigging, you cannot rig an election where you are not popular. You cannot. If you try that, then you see what will happen to you. People will resist it,” he said.

Wike said the G5 had pursued a deliberate political strategy during the 2023 election and remained satisfied with its outcome.

“We had our strategy, and that strategy worked well for us,” he said.