Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has accused his Edo State counterpart, Governor Godwin Obaseki as a politician who was given to serial betrayal of those who help to advance his political aspiration.
Wike made the accusation at the inauguration of the Community Secondary School, Omuanwa in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state, last Monday.
The Rivers State governor maintained that he owes the former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, an apology for opposing him when he insisted that Obaseki was a treacherous and ungrateful man.
Wike said Oshiomhole was right then and has been vindicated given the recent display of ingratitude by Obaseki to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and to those who had helped him to secure his second tenure as governor of Edo State.
“If you go and check the DNA of Godwin Obaseki, what you’ll see in that DNA is serial betrayal and ungratefulness. Let me stand today to apologise to Adams Oshiomhole, who has been vindicated by telling us that we will see the true colour, we’ll see the insincerity, and we will see the ungratefulness of Godwin Obaseki.
“So, let me apologise to Adams Oshiomhole, and to say ‘you have been vindicated. You were right, we were wrong’. I’ve never seen people who are so ungrateful in life. I’ve never seen people who can betray everything in life.”
Wike explained that Obaseki was never his match where character matters because he was consistent, sincere, and a forthright team player, who has never betrayed any person who had helped him politically.
He said that the problem in Edo State stems from Obaseki asking the national leadership of PDP to dissolve Edo PDP executive when the leaders had been elected before he joined the party, and had provided formidable structure for him to win the election.
The Rivers State governor wondered why Obaseki was unable to bring everybody together and work with them but instead wants to unleash the illegality of APC in PDP, which was being resisted because ordinarily, he was a political tenant in PDP.
“I’ve invested in the party. Rivers State has invested in the party. We have voted for PDP since 1999 till now. Ask Governor Obaseki: has he done anything for PDP? Has he voted for PDP?The only election he voted was his own election when we gave him umbrella. So, who has more stakes in PDP? I have more stakes, because I’ve supported PDP always. You’ve never supported PDP.Rather, it was when your godfather chased you away and you came begging, kneeling down. People came with pressure and we allowed you. Ordinarily, you’re a tenant.”
Wike clarified that he fought the then sitting governor in Rivers State to access and take charge of the party structure in the state.
He said it was unfortunate that Obaseki could describe him as a bully now that he was being called to order.
According to him, it was unfathomable that a man who came to him to get PDP’s governorship ticket in 2020 could now turn around to accuse him of being a bully.
“You came to beg a bully for you to have a ticket. A bully was your campaign DG and a bully bullied you into Government House. What a shame! It did not only end there. You came with your wife to thank the bully that after God, the bully made it possible for you to be there.”
Wike said the Edo State governor’s reference that he was jostling to get the PDP presidential ticket smacks of jealousy and bitterness.
He insisted that if he wanted to run for the office of president, the likes of Obaseki and his cohorts could not stop him.
“If I’m contesting for president, with due respect, I’m qualified, very qualified;if not more than qualified. I challenge Obaseki and his cohorts, some of the presidential aspirants who are using him to talk, if I decide to run tomorrow, I challenge anybody, including the so-called Obaseki, what you will see, you will say you never knew this is what politics is.”
He further said: “Tell your presidential aspirants who are sending you, let them pray I don’t come out. If I come out, I will win them.”
Wike said he remains eternally grateful to God for the privilege to preside over the affairs of Rivers State which has immense resources that was being deployed to develop the state.
“I thank Almighty God, who made sure I come from Rivers State, and I am deploying the resources for the development and betterment of my people. People come to Port Harcourt, and say they can’t recognise Port Harcourt. Let people go to Benin and say they cannot recognise Benin. It has been the same.”
Inaugurating the project, former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana described Wike as a courageous leader who was focused, and has capacity, wisdom, integrity, and dedicated to service.
Gana noted that Wike has used the resources of the state to better the wellbeing of Rivers people, and has become a sterling example of the kind of leadership Nigerians should expect from the PDP in 2023.
He expressed optimism that PDP would take over power in 2023 to restructure the federation, and transform the economy in order to reduce poverty.
Gana urged Wike to run for presidency, saying that when Rivers people present him as the candidate that has their support, the entire people of the Middle Belt of Nigeria would not hesitate to stand with them.
Providing the description of the project, Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, Alabo Dax George-Kelly said the school sits on 21 hectares of land, with five blocks of six classrooms each, 350-capacity hostel, 350-capacity dining hall, staff quarters, offices, laboratory, library and an internal road of 520m long and 7.3m wide.