By Charles Igbo
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has explained why some of his allies abandoned him and have, instead, ganged up against him.
Wike also narrated how, after they presented a letter to him on his last birthday, and asked him to run for the office of President, they abandoned him and went to Abuja to work against his aspiration, including ganging up to lobby against his becoming the Vice Presidential candidate after he lost at the Presidential Primary.
Wike spoke at the 74th birthday Party which he organized for former Governor of the State, Dr Peter Odili.
He said during his last birthday, they came and presented him with a letter, and asked him to run for the office of the President. After they presented him with the letter, Wike said he asked them who amongst them would like to succeed him as Governor. All but one person, according to Wike, raised their hands.
But, again, Wike also disclosed that each and everyone of them, agreed to support whoever I wanted as my successor. He revealed that they signed an agreement, which was prepared by OCJ Okocha, SAN, to accept whoever won the Governorship Primary.
The allegation in the State is that none of them paid a kobo for the Governorship forms which was N50m per person. Wike, according to the allegation, paid for the forms for all of them.
Wike, however, said that they reneged as soon as none of them got the ticket for the Governorsip seat.
He said they turned against him. He dismissed them as traitors who now accuse him of a third term ambition.
The ticket was won by a former Accountant General of the State, Sim Fubara. Fubara was the Accountant General under Wike, and resigned on time, allegedly, on Wike’s prompting, to view for the ticket.
Wike: “On my last birthday, 12 midnight, some of our elders called to see me. They said they came to wish me happy birthday.
“Then, they presented me with a letter that I should run for President. All of them, including Dr Abike Sekibo signed the document. I said okay, you people too should go and give me someone who will be Governor after me. They all sat there looking left and right.
“I asked them those of you who are interested should raise your hands. Everybody raised hand. One person didn’t raise his hand, Senator Bari Mpigi. I asked why he was not interested. He replied, Sir, let me hold what God has given me. I don’t want to lose the two.”
None of them made it. And that soured their relationship with the Governor. A source told this medium that they had expected that one person, amongst them, would pick the ticket. They did not expect the Governor to pick a civil servant. They accuse Wike of deceit and betrayal. So, they turned against him.
Wike: “They went to Abuja that I must not be Vice President. I also read yesterday (August 14), when I was in Paris, one of them saying that if they did to me what they did to Odili, that I will collapse the system.
Even though Wike refrained from mentioning names, speculations are that Sekibo, a former Minister for Transportation and Senator Lee Maeba, were among those who Wike disappointed.
It was Maeba who first made it public that some of them have fallen out with Wike. In an interview with a National Newspaper a few days ago, he disclosed that their problem with Wike stemmed from their solidarity visit to the PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, a move that stung Wike like a bee.
