The 2023 Rivers State gubernatorial election will take place on 18 March 2023, to elect the Governor of Rivers State, concurrent with elections to the Rivers State House of Assembly as well as twenty-seven other gubernatorial elections and elections to all other state houses of assembly.^[1][2] The election—which was postponed from its original 11 March date—will be held three weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections.^[3] Incumbent PDP Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike is term-limited and cannot seek re-election to a third term.

Party primaries were scheduled for between 4 April and 9 June 2022 with the Peoples Democratic Party nominating former state Accountant-General Siminalayi Fubara on 25 May while the All Progressives Congress nominated businessman Tonye Cole on 26 May.^[4][5] On 25 October, a Federal High Court ruling nullified all Rivers APC primaries but the ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeal in January 2023.^[6][7]

The Governor of Rivers State is elected using a modified two-round system. To be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive the plurality of the vote and over 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of state local government areas. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round will be held between the top candidate and the next candidate to have received a plurality of votes in the highest number of local government areas.^{[citation needed]}

Rivers State is a highly populated, diverse state in the South South with major oil and natural gas reserves along with industrial centres. Despite its vast oil revenues, the state has several major issues with pirates and illegal oil bunkering gangs in riverine areas while urban areas have overcrowding and intense environmental pollution.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Politically, the 2019 elections were a continuation of the state PDP's control as the state APC's inability to hold valid primaries led to its disqualification by a court. PDP presidential nominee Atiku Abubakar won the state by 50% and the party gained all three senate seats while also sweeping the House of Representatives elections. On the state level, the PDP also retained its House of Assembly majority and Wike won the gubernatorial election by a wide margin^[12][13]

Ahead of Wike's term, the aims for his second term were infrastructure, fiscal discipline, economic development, and unity.^[14] In terms of his performance, Wike was commended for infrastructural development, healthcare improvements, investments in sport, and pushing against illegal oil bunkering.^[15][16][17] However, his administration was criticized for its months-long delay in forming a cabinet, his unconstitutional declaration of Rivers as a "Christian state" and poor response to the demolition of a mosque, spending billions of naira to purchase luxury cars for lawmakers and judges, attempting to illegally ban protests during the height of the 2020 End SARS demonstrations, his perceived obsession with starting public disputes with other elected officials, the irregular payment of government salaries and pensions, and disrespecting traditional rulers.^{[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]} Wike also came over fire for his autocratic moves to crackdown on opposition by banning protests multiple times and most notably, when he had intraparty rival and House of Representatives member Farah Dagogo arrested and jailed for weeks to prevent him from running for governor.^[26][27][28] Another key source of controversy was his handling of the Oyigbo killings in November 2020, when Army personnel went on rampage attacks against Igbo young men in Oyigbo after five soldiers were killed by IPOB; Wike repeatedly denied any Army wrongdoing and justified the week-long military occupation of the area.^[29][30]

The primaries, along with any potential challenges to primary results, were to take place between 4 April and 3 June 2022 but the deadline was extended to 9 June.^[2][31] Leaders in ethnic groups like the Ogoni called on parties to nominate a non-Ikwerre as Ikwerres have held the governorship since 2007.^[32] Furthermore, despite making up a significant percentage of Rivers' population, no Ogoni person has ever held the governorship or deputy governorship, leading to calls for the formal zoning of party nominations to the Ogoni-majority Rivers South East Senatorial District. These calls, coupled with other claims that the governorship ought to rotate between upland and riverine areas, have led to pressure on parties to nominate someone from riverine areas or more specifically, Ogoni-majority areas.^[33] However, no major party has yet closed their primaries to candidates from the other districts.^[34] While neither major party formally zoned their nominations, both the APC and PDP nominated politicians from riverine areas.

Immediately after the primaries, analysts categorized the election as a proxy battle between outgoing governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike (PDP) and former governor Rotimi Amaechi (APC) despite being the first Rivers State gubernatorial election since 2003^{[lower-alpha 1]} in which neither Wike nor Amaechi are candidates.^[84] Fubara and Cole are both extensively connected to Wike and Amaechi, respectively, leading to the labeling of the general election as a continuation of the power struggle between the two. However, the emergence of Magnus Abe—a former senator who spent years feuding with Amaechi over control of the state APC—as the SDP nominee added even more uncertainty to the election. More important factors included Fubara's ongoing corruption case and Wike's feud with the national PDP over the aftermath of the presidential primary, which he lost in May 2022.^[85][86]

However, the race was massively shifted by a High Court ruling in October 2022 which annulled all Rivers APC primaries.^[6] The ruling was quickly compared to a similar ruling that disqualified the Rivers APC in 2019;^[87] the party protested the judgement and vowed to contest the elections.^[6] The next month, on 7 November, the first public poll—conducted by NIO Polls and commissioned by the Anap Foundation—was released for the race with it showing a heavily fragmented field that Fubara led while Cole (who was included despite the court ruling) and Abe trailed in second and third, respectively.^[88] As the election neared, Cole was reinstated as nominee by a Court of Appeal ruling in January 2023. The next month, a debate was conducted by the Rivers State Governorship Debate Group on 19 February; Abe, Cole, and LP nominee Beatrice Itubo attended while Fubara and Accord nominee Dumo Lulu-Briggs were absent.^[89]

Later in February, focus switched to the nearing presidential election on 25 February. In the election, Rivers State voted for Bola Tinubu (APC) amid controversy; declared results showed Tinubu winning the state with 44.2% of the vote to defeat Peter Obi (LP) at 33.4% and Atiku Abubakar (PDP) at 16.9%. The election, riddled with irregularities and fraud accusations, led to renewed focus on the gubernatorial race as reports of Wike-directed electoral interference in favour of Tinubu led to concerns about similar efforts for Fubara. Analysts noted the high likelihood of voter apathy due to a sense that actual votes do not impact the announced results in wake of the widespread rigging reports from February along with fear of violence that had been targeted at opposition strongholds.^[90] Other factors considered by pundits included the tense political atmosphere, bigotry against non-indigenes, and continuous attacks on opposition figures.^[91][92][93]

• 2023 Nigerian elections
• 2023 Nigerian gubernatorial elections