Wike Says G5 Deliberately Denied Atiku South-South Votes, Kept Rivers Out of Strategy

Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor 

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has said the five aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party deliberately allowed Peter Obi to win in parts of the South-South during the 2023 presidential election in order to deny Atiku Abubakar votes, but deliberately prevented Obi from winning in Rivers State because his victory there would have sent what he described as a wrong signal. The disclosure, made during an appearance on TVC's Journalists' Hangout on September 21 and reiterated in subsequent remarks, has reopened one of the most contested questions of the 2023 election and triggered fresh demands for an investigation into the conduct of that poll.

Wike said the G5 governors, a group of PDP governors who opposed Atiku's candidacy, assessed the political landscape and concluded that the PDP's traditional strength in the South-South would benefit Atiku if the votes went to the party's candidate. "We said, PDP is stronger in the South-South. And our problem would be Atiku. Therefore, instead of Atiku to take it, let it go to the Labour Party," Wike said. According to him, the strategy was deployed in Edo and Cross River, where Obi was allowed to win, but Rivers was treated differently. "It was only in Rivers, I said, 'No, Obi would not win here because if he does, it would send a wrong signal somewhere and people would not understand it.' And we stopped it," Wike said. He did not publicly explain what he meant by a wrong signal, leaving the question open.

The results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission in Rivers showed Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress winning with 231,591 votes, followed by Obi of the Labour Party with 175,071 and Atiku of the PDP with 88,468. Tinubu won 14 of the state's 23 local government areas, Obi won five and Atiku won four. Wike, who was governor of Rivers at the time and backed Tinubu despite belonging to the PDP, has repeatedly attributed Tinubu's victory in the state to the political structure he controlled. The figures have remained contentious. The BBC's 2023 election project published declared results using INEC data, while subsequent scrutiny of polling-unit result sheets on the IReV portal generated questions about discrepancies in some Rivers results. Questions about discrepancies are not, by themselves, proof of manipulation, and Wike has rejected allegations that he rigged the election, describing them as a baseless narrative. "Did I take result sheets, write them and give them to INEC?" he asked, dismissing the claim that an election could simply be rigged where a candidate lacked popular support.

The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education has demanded an investigation into Wike's disclosure, saying it raises serious questions about the role of powerful political actors in shaping electoral outcomes and the extent to which voters' choices may have been influenced. In a statement on Thursday, CHRICED's Executive Director, Dr Ibrahim Zikirullahi, called for clarification from INEC, the National Assembly, the Attorney-General of the Federation and relevant security agencies. "If state officials can 'allow' or 'prevent' candidates from winning in their states, then the fundamental principle that sovereignty belongs to the people is gravely undermined," the organisation said. It asked Wike and the other former G5 governors — Seyi Makinde, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi — to explain the nature, extent and mechanisms of the strategy, and urged stronger safeguards against political interference ahead of the 2027 elections. "Elections are not chessboards for powerful individuals to manipulate at will. They are solemn civic exercises through which citizens express their democratic will," CHRICED said.

Former Sports Minister Solomon Dalung said Wike's account had confirmed what many Nigerians had long suspected. "Wike has finally said, in plain English, what many Nigerians have spent years arguing about: they had a strategy in 2023," Dalung said in a post on social media. "Where Obi's votes could hurt Atiku, they let Obi have them. Where Obi's victory could create a political signal they didn't want, they stopped him. His own words: 'We did that.' And on Rivers: 'We stopped it.'" Dalung said the disclosure should not be dismissed as ordinary political banter and questioned the lack of an institutional response. He asked what lessons political actors had learned from 2023 as the country prepares for 2027.

Aisha Yesufu, a chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, challenged Wike's account and questioned his claimed political influence. She pointed to the 2023 senatorial elections, in which three members of the G5 ran and lost. "If Wike was that powerful, how come he couldn't give them a win in an election that was on the same day and time?" she asked. Wike has continued to maintain that the G5 strategy influenced Obi's performance in the South-South while insisting that Rivers was intentionally left outside the arrangement.

The controversy comes less than four months before the 2027 general elections, with the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, and the governorship and state assembly elections for February 6. Wike is leading President Bola Tinubu's re-election campaign in the Federal Capital Territory and Rivers State, while Atiku is contesting on the platform of the African Democratic Congress and Obi is flying the flag of the Nigeria Democratic Congress. The dispute over what happened in 2023 has therefore become entangled with the contest over who will govern Nigeria from 2027. The unanswered question is whether the G5's strategy crossed the line from political mobilisation into interference with voters' choices. The distinction matters because Wike's account is essentially a description of political strategy, and the demand for a probe reflects the belief that strategy of that kind, if it involves state power, cannot be separated from the integrity of the ballot. For now, Wike has placed his account on the record, CHRICED has demanded an investigation, and the 2023 election has returned to the centre of national debate.

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