Who Did INEC Declare? — Wike Fires Back At Obidients Over Obi’s Rivers Claim

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has challenged supporters of Peter Obi to produce result sheets showing that the Labour Party presidential candidate won Rivers State in the 2023 presidential election.

Wike made the remarks during an interview on TVC News’ Journalists’ Hangout on Monday, while responding to claims by some of Obi’s supporters that the former Anambra State governor secured victory in Rivers during the 2023 election.

According to Bush Radio Academy, Wike dismissed the claim and asked those making it to provide documentary evidence to support their position.

He questioned the basis of the assertion, asking who the Independent National Electoral Commission declared as the winner of the presidential election in Rivers State.

Wike also challenged Obi’s supporters to produce the result sheets they believe demonstrate that their candidate won the state, arguing that claims made on social media should be supported by official electoral documents.

The official results from the 2023 presidential election show that Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress received 231,591 votes in Rivers State, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party polled 175,071 votes and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party received 88,468 votes.

The results were announced after collation across Rivers State’s 23 local government areas, with reports from the time showing Tinubu was declared the winner in the state.

Wike argued that political claims about election victories should be tested against the results formally recorded and declared by electoral authorities rather than assertions made on social media.

He also questioned whether claims that Obi won Rivers were successfully established during the legal challenges that followed the 2023 election.

The FCT minister maintained that winning support on social media was different from securing the highest number of votes recorded through the electoral process, stressing that the outcome of an election in a state cannot be determined from results or perceptions in a single part of the state.

Wike’s comments have renewed discussion around the 2023 presidential election in Rivers State, where Obi finished second behind Tinubu according to the results declared at the time.