battleground states

Nigeria 2023: Rivers State, fief of spoiler-in-chief Nyesom Wike

in depth

This article is part of the dossier:

Nigeria 2023: The battleground states

By Eniola Akinkuotu

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Posted on January 25, 2023 13:45

© Governor Wike. Source: Facebook
Governor Wike. Source: Facebook

Rivers State – cash rich with oil money, and a key vote bank for the opposition PDP – is led by Governor Nyesom Wike, a member of the said party. The only problem? A jilted Wike, who saw himself as the PDP presidential candidate, is not playing ball. Part one of our Battleground States series.

This is part 2 of a 9-part series

Historically, Rivers State, which holds 4.65% of the total number of voters, is always volatile during elections.

In 2015, the media dubbed the state ‘Rivers of blood’ because of the violence. The situation worsened in 2019 with at least 10 killed, including electoral officials and security agents.

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