Wike explains 2023 South-South strategy, rejects claims of electoral rigging

Federal Capital Territory Minister, 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, speaking with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, described the allegations as a “baseless narrative propagated primarily on social media.”

The controversy followed his recent appearance on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout, where he disclosed that the G5 governors adopted a strategy designed to prevent the then-PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, from benefiting from the party’s traditional strength in the South-South.

Wike said the political strategy should not be confused with the alteration of election results or other forms of electoral malpractice.

Responding to claims that he personally changed result sheets in Tinubu’s favour, the former Rivers State governor questioned how such an operation could have been carried out across the country’s numerous polling units.

“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?” he asked.

He also challenged conclusions drawn from social media posts and results from limited polling units, insisting that such information could not determine the outcome of a nationwide presidential election.

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“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.

“Election outcomes are not predicted this way,” he said.

Wike further argued that allegations of electoral manipulation should have been substantiated during the legal challenges that followed the 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 added.

Explaining the G5’s strategy, Wike said Atiku was regarded as the principal political threat because of the PDP’s strength in the South-South.

He said the group therefore sought to prevent Atiku from consolidating the region by allowing Obi to benefit from votes in some areas.

“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.

“South-South was purely a PDP state and so if we had voted for PDP all through, then Atiku would have won. That was a threat,” he said.

Wike maintained that the G5’s calculations were based on political realities rather than the influence attributed to Obi on social media.

“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.

“Assuming Obi won Rivers, add it for him. Would he have won the election?” he asked.

The minister also dismissed the suggestion that an election could simply be manipulated in areas where a political candidate lacked grassroots support.

“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 added.

Wike said the G5’s approach was deliberate and produced the political outcome the group had sought.

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

“Our major opponent was Atiku Abubakar and if we didn’t do that, something would have happened,” he said.

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