Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers State, has denied working against Peter Obi, the Labour Party‘s nominee for president in the February 25 election.
Obi, 61, won the election with 6,101,533 votes after mobilising youthful people in a way that some have dubbed unprecedented in less than a year. Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 6,984,520 votes, finished in second place.
Nigerian youths have accused Wike of betraying the former governor of Anambra State after Obi lost the election to Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Party (APC).
In an interview with a few journalists on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Wike said that he had just counseled the residents of Rivers State to vote for Nigeria’s unity.
Wike claimed that Obi was being unappreciative after choosing him to be Atiku’s running mate in the 2019 presidential election.
“I take exception to Peter Obi’s comments that I came out against him. People are not being sincere, people are not appreciative,” he stated.
“In 2019, ask Peter Obi, I was one of the teams that chose Obi to be the Vice Presidential candidate of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. When we met at Abubakar’s house, he said these are the names, I will choose Obi.
“Obi was invited while we were at Saraki’s house in the night. I was fought by people like Ekweremadu, Umahi, Pius Anyim. Every blame was on me, why will I be the one that will say Peter Obi should go?”
Sen. Iyorchia Ayu’s resignation was demanded by Wike and the other members of the G-5 following his clash with Atiku following the PDP primaries that resulted in the former Vice President being selected as the party’s presidential candidate for the general elections in 2023.
Similar to how Atiku is from Adamawa in the northeast of Nigeria, Ayu, the PDP National Chairman, is from Benue in the country’s north.
Five PDP governors who feel they have been wronged make up the G-5 governors. Other than Wike, there are Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and Samuel Ortom (Benue).
They stated that Ayu should resign in accordance with the PDP zoning agreement in the name of equity and justice. Yet because their requests were rejected, the governors decided not to back Atiku’s presidential campaign.
In spite of the state being governed by the PDP and being an oil-rich state, Tinubu defeated Atiku in the results of the presidential elections held on February 25.
In the interview, Wike claimed he never instructed Rivers residents to support Tinubu instead of Obi. He clarified that he had advised his supporters to vote in favor of Nigeria’s unity.
“I never told Rivers people to vote for the candidate (of the APC). I told Rivers people (to vote) for the unity of Nigeria.
“As far as Rivers State is concerned, their position is that ‘look, we want a power shift.’ And there are two candidates from the South – Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi. If Rivers people have chosen to vote for Asiwaju, and same Rivers people also voted for Peter Obi. That tells you that their decision was to vote for a Southern President.”