Wike Says G5 Used Obi to Block Atiku, Not to Rig

Nyesom Wike has finally addressed the allegation that he manipulated the 2023 presidential election in Rivers State and the South-South to help Bola Tinubu defeat Peter Obi, and his explanation is that the G5 strategy was about reducing Atiku Abubakar's votes, not about rigging. He said this on Wednesday while addressing journalists in Abuja.

Wike questioned how one person could change results from 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 also said, "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."

He explained the G5 strategy plainly: "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 maintained the strategy worked and that the opposition failed to prove in court that Rivers results were manipulated.

Here is where I stand. Wike is a brilliant political strategist, and he is telling us exactly what he did. He is not denying that he worked against Atiku. He is only denying that he rigged for Tinubu. But if you deliberately funnel votes to one candidate to weaken another, you have interfered in the outcome, whether or not you touched a result sheet. In Ibadan we say the person who holds the goat for the butcher cannot claim his hands are clean. The G5 did not just oppose Atiku. They shaped the field. And now they want us to believe it was all noble strategy.

Let me ask those who will rush to defend him. If a group of governors can openly say they directed votes to a candidate they did not support, just to stop another candidate, what stops them from doing it again in 2027? Be honest with yourselves.