The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has denied allegations that he rigged the 2023 presidential election in the South-South in favour of President Bola Tinubu against the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi.
Wike, who spoke in Abuja on Wednesday, described the allegation as a “baseless narrative” propagated mainly on social media.
The denial follows controversy over comments he made during an appearance on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout, where he explained how the defunct G5 governors adopted a strategy aimed at preventing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate at the time, Atiku Abubakar, from benefiting from the party’s traditional strength in parts of the South-South.
Wike said the strategy involved allowing Obi to gain votes in some areas, including Edo and Cross River, rather than allowing the votes to benefit Atiku.
“Our problem will be Atiku. Therefore, instead of Atiku to take it, let it go to the Labour Party. That was our strategy. Cross River, the same thing. That’s what we did,” he said.
However, Wike said Rivers State was treated differently because the G5 believed an Obi victory there could have significant political implications.
“It was only Rivers that said, ‘No, we have a problem here in Rivers. Obi will not win here because if he wins, he sends a signal somewhere, people may not understand it.’ And we stopped… we stopped it,” he said.
Reacting to allegations that he personally manipulated election results in favour of Tinubu, Wike questioned how one individual could determine the outcome across thousands of 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.
The FCT minister also dismissed reliance on social media projections in determining election outcomes, noting that Nigeria had about 176,000 polling units.
“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 opposition parties had failed to establish their allegations of electoral manipulation through the courts.
“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 asked.
Explaining the G5’s strategy, Wike said the group viewed Atiku as a greater political threat because of the PDP’s strength in 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.
He added that the South-South was traditionally a PDP stronghold and that allowing Atiku to consolidate the region could have strengthened his presidential bid.
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“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 strategy constituted political calculation rather than the alteration of election results.
The G5 comprised Wike and former governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu. The group opposed Atiku’s 2023 presidential candidacy and withheld support from his campaign.
Wike also said Obi’s support base and the political circumstances surrounding the 2023 election had changed ahead of the 2027 elections.
“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.
