A viral audio accusing Nyesom Wike, the Governor of Rivers state, of voter intimidation began trending days after the general elections.
In the alleged audio-visual, Wike could be heard liaising with what people reported to be staffs of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as his aides through a telephone call on how to sway election results in their favour.
The telephone call which largely focuses on mobilisation in exchange for financial gain also entails a threat from Wike to one of the alleged INEC staffs.
Verification
CDD election War Room traced the origin of the allegedly leaked audio to a YouTube upload from six years ago.
We further ran the alleged audio-visual through a deep fake and forensic AI to check for points in the audio where we suspected different conversations may have been stitched together and found that the audio is suspicious, but not a deep fake.
In response to the viral allegations, the Rivers state government described the allegation as a “piece of rubbish, masterminded by evil people to tarnish the image of Wike”.
The audio was first shared by Sahara Reporters after the December 2016 rerun elections in Rivers state. Wike was later alleged to have bribed INEC official to do his bidding for N360 million.
The federal government has since arraigned 23 INEC workers said to be connected to the case. Wike has continuously denied any wrongdoing.
Verdict
The alleged audio is not recent and has nothing to do with the 2023 general elections. The audio has been on the internet as early as December 2016.