Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike has dismissed claims that he rigged the 2023 presidential election in the South-South in favour of President Bola Tinubu against Labour Party candidate Peter Obi.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Wike described the allegations as a “baseless narrative propagated primarily on social media.”
The comments followed widespread criticism after he revealed in a TVC Journalists’ Hangout interview that the G5 governors had strategically allowed Obi to win in parts of the South-South.
Critics and opposition figures interpreted his earlier remarks as an admission of voter manipulation.
Wike rejected this, insisting the outcome resulted from a calculated electoral strategy aimed at neutralising major political threats rather than illegal interference.
Responding to accusations that he altered result sheets for Tinubu, Wike questioned how one person could control results 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.
He stressed that social media projections often ignore the reality of Nigeria’s electoral system. “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 also noted that opposition parties failed to prove rigging claims in court after 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.
Detailing the G5 approach in the traditionally PDP-dominated South-South, Wike said the group identified then-PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar as the primary threat.
Their strategy was to direct votes towards Obi in certain areas to split the opposition and limit Atiku’s margin.“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 explained.
Wike downplayed Obi’s national impact, describing it largely as a social media phenomenon. “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.
He maintained that genuine popularity is essential and that attempts to rig without it would face resistance. “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 concluded that the G5 strategy succeeded against its main target. “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.”
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