Screenshot of the claim
Claim: Several social media accounts reported that the house of the former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, was burnt.
Full Text
Nyesom Wike is a Nigerian politician and lawyer who has held various prominent positions. He is the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, appointed by President Bola Tinubu in 2023. He is the immediate past governor of Rivers State (2015 to 2023).
Recently, there has been a feud between Wike and the incumbent governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara. This has led to several political uproars in the state.
However, multiple social media accounts on March 17, 2025, claimed that as a result of the violence that broke out in Rivers State, Wike’s residence was set ablaze.
Screenshot of one of the social media posts claiming Wike’s home was burnt
The claim can be found on some Facebook accounts here, here, here and here.
Given the virality and suspicion of the claim, we conducted this fact-check.
Verification
Using a keyword search on Google, we found that the Rivers State Police Command in a press release issued by its spokesperson, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, on 17 March 2025, rebutted the reports that arsonists had set ablaze Wike’s home in the state.
“The attention of the Rivers State Police Command has been drawn to a misleading and malicious report circulating on various online media platforms, falsely claiming that riots have erupted in Rivers State, leading to the burning of the residence of the former Governor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, along with other acts of violence,” the spokesperson said.
According to Iringe-Koko, the report is entirely false, baseless, and a deliberate attempt by mischief makers to incite unrest and spread fear among law-abiding residents of the state.
“There is no record of any such incident, and normalcy prevails across the state,” she said.
Using Hive, an AI image detector, we analysed the images attached to the social media claims. The result revealed that the images were 96.7% AI-generated.
Screenshot of the result on Hive
Furthermore, due to the rising tension in Rivers State, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the state on March 18, 2025.
Conclusion
The claim that youths attacked former Governor Nyesom Wike’s residence in Rivers State is false. The Rivers State Police Command has officially rebutted the reports.
Additionally, an investigation into the images shared with the post revealed that they likely contain 96.7% AI-generated or deepfake content.
