Wike explains South-South 2023 strategy, rejects claims of election fraud

Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, has denied allegations that he manipulated the 2023 South-South presidential election to favor President Bola Tinubu over Labor Party candidate, Peter Obi.

Wike, while speaking with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, described the allegations as “baseless narratives propagated mainly on social media.”

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

Wike said political strategy should not be equated with changing election results or other forms of electoral malpractice.

Responding to claims that he personally altered the result sheet in favor of Tinubu, the former governor of Rivers State questioned how such an operation could be carried out in various polling stations in the country.

“People who don’t understand, how can they say I rigged the election? How did I do it? So, I just took the results sheet, wrote it down and gave it to INEC?” he asked.

He also challenged conclusions drawn from social media posts and results from limited voting units, and emphasized that such information cannot determine the outcome of the national presidential election.

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“I always say social media doesn’t win elections. You have about 176,000 polling stations, and maybe you’ve looked at 300 polling stations and then you rush to the conclusion that so-and-so has won.

“The election results were not predicted like this,” he said.

Wike further argued that allegations of electoral manipulation should have been proven in legal challenges after the election.

“You remember when they went to court, did anyone bring up any results from Rivers and say, ‘look, here are the results, we won’?” he added.

Explaining the G5 strategy, Wike said Atiku was considered a major political threat because of the PDP’s strength in the South-South.

He said the group was trying to prevent Atiku from consolidating territory by allowing Obi to gain from votes in some areas.

“We feel that Atiku played more of a role in the election than Obi. So our strategy is, make sure you vote for Obi who wins so that Atiku doesn’t get any votes.

“The South is purely a PDP country, so if we vote for the PDP all out, Atiku will win. That’s a threat,” he said.

Wike stated that the G5 calculations were based on political realities and not Obi’s influence on social media.

“Obi is not a threat. Obi is just a threat from social media. Even if Obi immediately secures Rivers, it will not change the outcome of the presidential election.

“Assuming Obi wins Rivers, add that to him. Will he win the election?” he asked.

The minister also rejected the notion that elections could be manipulated in areas where political candidates lack support from the grassroots.

“When you talk about fraud, you can’t rig an election if you’re not popular. You can’t do it. If you try, you’ll see what will happen to you. The public will reject it,” he added.

Wike said the G5’s approach was deliberate and produced the political results the group desired.

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

“Our main opponent is Atiku Abubakar and if we don’t do that, something will happen,” he said.