Rivers elections: Wike accused of paying UK Consulate Officers $1 million to lie against Nigerian military

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has been accused of paying staff of the United Kingdom High Commision over one million dollars to black Nigerian military through fictitious reports over the outcome of the just-concluded elections in the state.

Coalition For Change and Transparency (CCT) made the allegation on Monday In Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on Monday.

CCT observed that during the state elections, fake stories were deployed as propaganda tools against the military by those who felt they were unable to rig or manipulate the elections because of the critical role the military was playing.

Danesi Momoh, President of the coalition at the press briefing, alleged that Nigerian UK Officials received $1 million, financed by the Rivers State governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike to run this campaign of fake news on some online media platform.

The group called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the allegation, while advising the UK High Commission to cooperate with any investigation by a Nigerian agency into this sordid episode.

Full text of his speech below.

The Governorship and State Assembly elections held on Saturday March 9. 2019 with incidents of violence reported in some parts of the country. International and domestic Election Observation Missions reported that these disruptive acts of violence were committed across board by the major political parties taking part in the process.

Or analysis showed that these incidents would have gone out of hand but for the intervention of the military that was deployed for the purpose of preventing violent electoral crimes like ballot snatching and vote disruption. Both in the course of the Presidential/National Assembly and the Governorship/ State Assembly elections, the military received commendations from groups that were able to evaluate its role without the bias of pre-conceived stereotypes.

During the state elections, fake news was deployed as propaganda weapon against the military by those who felt they were unable to rig or manipulate the elections because of the critical role the military was playing. Interestingly, such fake news were targeted at areas were the military had successfully prevented violence from spiraling out of control.
Considering that fake news is now recognized globally as a weapon, and knowing the damages that could result from its deployment, the Coalition for Change and Transparency (CCT) reviewed instances of the use of fake news against the Nigerian Military with a view to identifying those that deployed it, those that exploited it, those that benefit from it and possibly understand the intents of those in the fake news chain.
We have identified that cyber operatives of the opposition, notably the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), are behind the production, distribution and promotion of misleading content using new media and social media as vehicles of delivery. In some instances, such contents get into the mainstream media, whose credibility and traditional status and believability are exploited to confer credibility on the lies being told by the propagandists.

It is most unfortunate that even these cyber operatives and the opposition are being used in the fake news chain as the real culprit are foreign operatives that exploit such content. A specific culprit is the United Kingdom, which based its assessment of the election on fake news about the military beating staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), effectively exploiting the fake news that it had trained the cyber operatives of the opposition to produce.

The Nigerian military even had to alert members of the public to the worrisome situation of unscrupulous politicians giving military uniforms to armed thugs. The implication of this is that people are likely to blame the military for crimes committed by these thugs in uniform without realizing that they are not military personnel. Stakeholders and friends of Nigeria that want to make sincere interventions in the country’s electoral process will factor in the activities of thugs like these. But the United Kingdom opted to be oblivious of such possibility.

The Twitter handle, @UKinnigeria, posted an update that said “Extremely concerned by reports, including from @UKinnigeria observers, of military interference in the election process in Rivers State. Monitoring the situation closely. @inecng staff must be allowed to do their job in safety, without intimidation.”

Please note that @UKinnigeria is described as “Latest news and updates from the British High Commission in Nigeria.” The account encourages users to follow @CatrionaLaing1, which is a reference to Catriona Lang, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria. So there is definitely no way the UK Government can deny links to the link.
There is only one issue with the position stated in the tweet: it is based on fake news that the UK Government put the cyber operatives of the opposition up to. It then exploited the fake news to cast aspersion on the Nigerian Military knowing that this is a vital institution in defining Nigeria’s sovereignty and stability. It is an attempt to create the impression that the military is still running the country when in reality that institution is only providing security as it has been directed.

Assuming the United Kingdom made a sincere error, simple fact checking, which is imperative considering the gravity and sensitivity of the situation, would have educate this intruding country as to the true position of things. TheCable, an online newspaper did a better job at fact checking what transpired in Rivers state contrary to the lies of the United Kingdom.

The following was what The Cable tweeted about the situation Rivers State, “FAKE NEWS ALERT In Rivers: Reports that soldiers are seizing results and beating @inecnigeria officials at the state collation centre is false, TheCable can confirm. #NigeriaDecides2019 #CDDAnalysisCentre Cc: @CDDWestAfrica
“Although the heavy military presence around the the collation centre led to a clash between soldiers and police, no security personnel is seen harassing INEC officials. #NigeriaDecides2019 #CDDAnalysisCentre.”

We have it on good authority that the Nigerian UK Officials received $1 million, financed by the Rivers State governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike to run this campaign of fake news, which TheCable has now debunked. With the prospect that this act has shown for causing instability, we call on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the allegation while we strongly advise the UK High Commission to cooperate with any investigation by a Nigerian agency into this sordid episode.

The monetary inducement perhaps explains the most unfortunate situation whereby 24 hours after The Cable exposed the lies of the United Kingdom via the Twitter handle, @UKinnigeria, the High Commission has not deemed it fit to walk back its lies and apologize to the people and government of Nigeria as well as the Nigerian Military for the damage they have caused. It is even more unfortunate that the lie told in this instance was not a one off thing but it rather followed a pattern of a country that is obsessed with re-colonizing Nigeria.

Gentlemen of the press, recall that this same country unleashed Cambridge Analytica, political consulting firm, which ran a destructive campaign in Nigeria around the 2015 General Elections. In line with the imperialist agenda of the United Kingdom, Cambridge Analytica ran a campaign to allege that there was a plot to Islamize Nigeria, turn Nigerians against each other on ethnic basis and sowed division across the country to create the schism that almost tore the country apart. The incidents of violence recorded during these 2019 elections are directly, in part, the consequence of the operation executed against Nigeria by the UK through Cambridge Analytica.

The Coalition for Change and Transparency (CCT) therefore condemns in the strongest terms possible the United Kingdom’s unwarranted deployment of fake news to cause disaffection among Nigerians and against the Nigerian military. We see it as a deliberate and calculated attempt to cause violence against the military such that the situation will quickly degenerate to a point where violent anti-military protests will bring down the government and cause constitutional crisis for the country.

CCT hereby by asks the United Kingdom High Commission in Nigeria to retract the offensive tweet and apologize for willfully attempting to incite violence in Nigeria through the promotion of fake news. We in the same vein demand that @UKinnigeria including the UK High Commission in Nigeria cease further comments about the election in Nigeria or be faced with deterrent actions from citizens. Nigeria does not interfere in UK elections so there is no justification for the attempts by the United Kingdom to manipulate the conduct and the outcome of the elections in Nigeria.
We demand that the Federal Government explore all available diplomatic channels and options to drive home the message to the United Kingdom that the British Empire expired long ago and Nigeria is not the place to revive the antiquated concept. The Federal Government owes it a duty to Nigerians, who were unnecessarily terrorized by the fake news, to ensure that the consular staff that were behind the offensive tweet are recalled by their country. This will also show that Nigeria will not tolerate undue interference by foreigners in the country’s affairs.

In the light of the fact checking conducted by TheCable, the Nigerian Military should assemble fact, present same to the UK High Commission in Nigeria, and demand an apology and deletion of the lie from the timeline of @UKinnigeria.

CCT will watch closely to see the remedial steps taken by the United Kingdom to right its wrong against Nigerians and will announce additional steps it will take should the development not be satisfactory.