The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed claims that he rigged the 2023 presidential election in the South-South, stating that his camp only used a political strategy to divide opposition votes.
Wike addressed journalists in Abuja on Wednesday to clear the air following the criticism from his recent television interview. Critics had accused him of publicly confessing to voter manipulation after he appeared on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout and revealed how his G5 group of governors handled the 2023 polls.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the minister dismissed the rigging allegations as baseless rumors driven by social media. He clarified that pushing votes to the Labour Party in specific South-South areas was a well-planned political move, not electoral fraud.
He said that the goal was to stop the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, from clearing the region, because the South-South is traditionally a PDP stronghold, and his group saw Atiku as their primary threat. He challenged critics who accused him of doctoring election materials in favor of President Bola Tinubu.
“We felt that Atiku was more of a factor in that election than Obi,” Wike said. “So our strategy was to make sure people voted for Obi just to deny Atiku those votes…People who don’t understand, how can they say I rigged the election? How would I have done it? Did I just take the result sheets, write on them, and give them to INEC?” Wike.
Wike also played down Obi’s influence in the race, describing him as a threat only on social media. He stated that online hype does not win elections in a country with about 176,000 polling units.
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