FACT-CHECK: Old Video of Wike Criticising Buhari Recycled to Suggest a Swipe at Tinubu
BY: Abdulrasheed Akere
Claim:
A 59 seconds video clip showing Nyesom Wike talking on national politics has been circulating online with a caption that “Wike take a swipe at Tinubu”.
Verdict:
No! Wike did not take a swipe at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the viral video is old but recycled for political propaganda.
Full Text:
On Monday August 31, 2026, an X user (@Uno_009) identified as Mayor Of Calabar posted a 59 seconds video clip where Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Nigeria and former Governor of Rivers State is talking on national politics. The post was captioned as this: “When I heard people declaring for APC, saying they want to continue the good job of Mr. President, the good job of people dying everyday, the good job of Naira falling everyday —Wike take a swipe at Tinubu.”
As of the time of the press, the post has gained 133K views, 111 comments, 1.2K reposts, and 2.7K love reactions. On the same day, the video appeared on a Facebook page, EAGLE EYES Report which has over 324K followers.
The origin of the recycled video Mayor Of Calabar uses Peter Obi’s picture as cover photo and also pinned one of his campaign posts. Whereas, Peter Obi is a presidential aspirant for the 2027 election under Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). This loophole and the controversies raised by the commenters inspired FactCheck Africa to check the claim.
Verification:
FactCheckAfrica carefully reviewed the video and discovered that Nyesom Wike directed his attack to people who were joining APC to continue the good job of Former President, Muhammad Buhari. In the video, he questioned the late President’s administration but did not particularly mention Tinubu as contained in the claim.
The fact that Muhammad Buhari is late raised a concern about the relevancy of the claim. Keyword search on search engines proved that, “The viral social media quote attributed to Nyesom Wike is a remark from the 2023 election campaign criticizing the Muhammadu Buhari administration, rather than a recent swipe at President Bola Tinubu.”
The Google reverse image search on part of the video indicates that it has appeared online in the past. A Facebook user, Aliyu Mohammed posted it on February 22, 2023 with a caption: “He who can control his anger can also control his desire. God forbid bad things.”
A further search with verification tools revealed that the video was cut out from a campaign video made four years ago in Bayelsa state. The original video which lasted for five minutes and thirty-four seconds (5:34) was posted on Symfoni YouTube channel on May 07, 2022 where it generated 14,366 views. The video was captioned as “2023 Elections: Watch What Wike Said About The High Number Of APC Aspirants And Their Plan To ‘Continue With Buhari’s Legacies’.”
Conclusion:
After reviewing every available evidence and finding that the viral video is an old one, it can be concluded that Nyesom Wike did not take a swipe at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
