The Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, said that Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike publicly opposed him during the February 25 elections. Obi emphasized that his supporters did not vote for him based on ethnicity; they knew what he stood for and recognized that he had kept his promises. He noted that he received more votes from Lagos indigenes than from “visitors,” and that the same pattern held in the South‑East, where voters were aware of his track record.
Obi dismissed claims that his Lagos votes were due to Igbo support, asking how many Igbos actually live in Lagos. He pointed out that he secured more votes from Lagos residents than from those he termed “visitors.” He also asked whether Igbos in Nasarawa, Plateau or Abuja voted for him, and highlighted that, despite Governor Wike’s opposition, Obi still won over 50 percent of the vote in Rivers if the genuine results were counted. He added that the other two parties split the remaining votes.
In a separate interview on Arise TV, Obi reiterated these points. Meanwhile, Governor Wike recently praised Obi, calling him the “hero of the elections.” Speaking at a town‑hall meeting with Igbo traders in Port Harcourt, Wike said that, although Obi was not declared the winner, his participation ensured that a southerner would become President‑elect. He argued that the states where Obi performed well would otherwise have been won by the Peoples Democratic Party, keeping power in the North. “In this election that we just did, Obi is my hero, as far as I’m concerned. If he didn’t contest, power would have remained in the North,” Wike said.
In Rivers State, the APC’s Bola Tinubu was declared President‑elect after receiving 231,591 votes across the 23 local government areas. The APC won 14 LGAs, the Labour Party won five, and the PDP won four. State Collation Officer Prof. Charles Adias reported the final tallies: APC 231,591; Labour Party 175,071; PDP 88,468.
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