Nigeria: No, Viral Video Does Not Show Nigerian President Tinubu's Support for Minister Wike Amid Rivers State Political Feud

29 January 2026
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Precious Ewuji

No, viral video does not show Nigerian president Tinubu's support for minister Wike amid Rivers state political feud

IN SHORT: A video of Nigerian president Bola Tinubu has been shared online, where it appears he is saying he supports Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory. This comes amid an ongoing political crisis in Rivers state - but the video is not recent.

A video of Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu claiming to support Nyesom Wike, the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), has been widely circulated on social media amid the ongoing political crisis in Rivers state.

The 36-seconds video is captioned: "Don't pay attention to the busy bodies and bystanders. Whatever they say, continue to do your good works. You are a transformational leader, you have force and the foresight, the vision and determination to succeed. Thank you very much. - PBat to Wike"

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These are the same words Tinubu appears to say in the video attached to the post.

A feud between Wike and Rivers state governor Sinmilayi Fubara triggered a political crisis in Rivers state in late October 2023. In March 2025, Tinubu declared a six-month state of emergency and appointed a sole administrator to run the affairs of the state. Tinubu also suspended Fubara, his deputy, and other lawmakers in the state.

It was speculated by many that Tinubu was punishing Fubara in order to support Wike, Tinubu's ally.

Fubara was reinstated as governor by Tinubu in September 2025. Later in the month, Wike announced that he had forgiven Fubara, saying that peace would return to the state.

However, in January 2026 it was reported that the feud between Wike and Fubara had again escalated.

But did Tinubu come out in support of Wike, and is this illustrated in the viral video? We checked.

Old video

We broke the video into keyframes and did a Google reverse image search. The result shows that the video had been online since June 2025. The original eight-minute version of this video was posted by Channels Television on 10 June. It shows that Tinubu made the statement when he inaugurated the rehabilitated and refurbished International Conference Centre, Abuja.

During his speech, he urged Wike to focus on his mandate to transform the nation's capital.

Tinubu was not expressing his support for Wike in the context of the political feud in Rivers state, and the video is being shared out of context.

More posts making this claim can be found here, here, here, here and here.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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