Peter Obi: Wike came out against me in Rivers

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has claimed that Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, was against him during the elections. 

Speaking during an interview with Arise TV on Monday, Obi alleged that despite the antagonism, he won the state by “over 50 percent” in the presidential poll if the “real votes” were counted.

The LP candidate came third with 6,101,533 votes in the February 25 elections won by Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Tinubu polled 231,591 votes in Rivers state as against Obi’s 175,071 votes.

The result from the state led some political actors and stakeholders to accuse Wike of manipulating the election against the LP candidate.

A viral audio recording purportedly of Wike had claimed that he bribed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials to rig the presidential election. TheCable found the audio to be from 2016.

Last week, Wike defended himself and said the report of rigging in the state being circulated on social media was the handiwork of his adversaries.

Addressing the situation, Obi insisted that he won the presidential election in Rivers despite “that the governor came out against me”.

“In the south-east, people know me, what I stand for, and that I have kept to my promises. It is a simple thing. It is like people saying I won Lagos because of the Igbos there. How many Igbos live in Lagos? I got more votes from the indigenes in Lagos than those you can call visitors,” the LP candidate said.

“In Rivers, where you know that the governor came out against me, I still succeeded. If the real votes of Rivers were counted, I won. I had over 50 percent of the votes. The other two parties shared the remaining figures.”