The governor of Rivers State, Barr. Nyesom Wike, has expressed regret to Adams Oshiomhole, the former governor of Edo State, for interfering with the election of APC candidate Osagie Ize-Iyamu as governor of Edo State in 2020.
"I would like to apologise to you at this time. Before inviting Oshiomhole to officially open a flyover in the state, Wike made the following statement: "I came to Edo State to make sure that your candidate did not win the election.
Wike served as the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign committee that worked to secure Governor Godwin Obaseki's reelection to a second term. Obaseki joined the PDP not long before the party primary in Edo.
Obaseki, who succeeded Oshiomhole as governor of Edo State, was elected on the platform of the APC in 2016 but had a falling out with Oshiomhole, who was the APC national chairman at the time.
Due to the schism between Obaseki and Oshiomhole, the APC denied Governor Obaseki a return ticket in 2020, compelling him to switch to the PDP, where he received the governorship nomination and ultimately won reelection.
Wike led the PDP’s reelection campaign for Obaseki. Eventually, the two men fell out with one another over political differences.
Wike apologized to Oshiomhole while addressing party supporters in Port Harcourt during the inauguration of the eighth flyover constructed by his administration.
“I was virtually in charge and coming out on television to take you on, and I said you would not win, and you didn’t win. That assignment has been done, but we now know who is who. I sincerely apologize to you.
“I want to tell my people I sincerely apologize to you,” Wike stated.
This event was aired on Channels TV and monitored by Prime 9ja Online.
“People would praise you for what you do for them. The day you said no, you are wrong, they began to say all sorts of things,” Wike stated. However, he did not mention Obaseki’s name.
Governor Wike also addressed the PDP’s problem. He stated that his only offence in the PDP is requesting the party’s national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to honour his “promise” to retire if a northerner wins the PDP presidential primary.
His remarks before the inauguration of the flyover in Governor Wike’s community, Rumuepirikom, in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers, Oshiomhole stated that leadership is about character and not making empty promises.
Oshiomhole recalled how he referred to Governor Wike as his man of the year for his insistence that politics is about making and keeping promises.
In addition, he recounted how, in May 2021, seventeen governors convened in Asaba, Delta State, and decided that the country’s future president should come from the southern region.
He disputed, however, Wike’s claim that the military would be sent to Rivers State during the 2019 elections.