Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has fired back at Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State for calling him a bully after he tackled Edo State Deputy Governor, Phillip Shuaibu over the comment he made about the Peoples Democratic Party.
Wike who spoke on Monday, March 14 at the inauguration of an expanded community Secondary School project in Omuanwa in Ikwere Local Government Area of the state, accused Obaseki of being a “betrayer” even after he ensured he won his re-election campaign in Edo State.
He also said that former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole has been vindicated by Obaseki’s recent action.
The Rivers State Governor said: “If you go and check the DNA of Obaseki, what you will see in that DNA is betrayal, 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 will see the insincerity, we will see the ungratefulness of Governor Obaseki.
“Let me apologise to Adams Oshiomhole to say you have been vindicated. You are right, we are wrong.
Wike also faulted Obaseki’s claims that he threatened the party to hold its last National Convention in Port Harcourt. He maintained that his position on the venue of the convention was based on PDP’s earlier decision about Port Harcourt.
According to the Governor, he invited all hotel owners and urged them to spend money and give their facilities a face-lift in preparation for that convention.
The Rivers State Governor said: “They spent their money. But some presidential aspirants went back to say they would not go to Port Harcourt. As a lover of the state and this party and said you cannot make people spend money and then overnight you say you won’t come again.
“But assuming though not conceding that I threatened the party, I have invested in the party, Rivers has invested in the party, we have voted for PDP since 1999 till now. Ask Obaseki whether he has done anything for PDP. Has he voted for PDP?
“The only election that he voted was his own when we gave him an umbrella. I have more stakes in PDP. Obaseki has never supported PDP. It was when his godfather chased you away and you came begging, kneeling down. People came with pressure. Ordinarily, you are a tenant.
“If I threaten the party I am a full and financial member of the party. But you that are a tenant, how can you threaten our party? You were a governor in APC and the PDP won two senatorial districts. PDP won four House of Representatives. I am a governor here, APC does not have one seat”.
On being called a bully by Obaseki, Wike said:
“You came to beg a bully for you to have a ticket. A bully was your DG, Campaign and a bully bullied you into Government House. What a shame. You came back with your wife to thank the bully saying that after God, the bully made it possible for you to be there”.
He also maintained that Obaseki’s utterances were beyond politics, adding that only politics would make people know the character of an individual.
On Obaseki’s claims that he threatened the PDP because of Ndudi Elumelu, Wike said he only stood by the party’s earlier agreement on who should emerge the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.
He said: “PDP wrote to the National Assembly nominating the Minority Leader of the House. The Speaker by the connivance of some PDP people announced Ndudi Elumelu as the leader of PDP. That is sabotage, APC nominating Leader for us in the House. And I say no we can’t accept this.
“Satan has agents. Most of the people you see are agents of Satan. I am not in the class of Obaseki. We can’t be the same. I was the DG of his campaign. I went there for three days and stayed there without having my bath. We bought even the drinks we drank there. It was Lucky Igbinedion that fed us. I have never seen somebody like Obaseki in my life.”
Wike also said that he would not support the injustice and impunity that Obaseki planned for PDP, vowing to smoke out the Edo Governor’s cohorts in the party.
He added: “This is not the Benin artefacts where you are challenging the Oba, which you lost woefully. This is politics. Obaseki, I have more stakes in PDP than you. All the elections we had run he made no contribution. If you ask him he would say he didn’t know.
“A party had done congresses, formed structures, you came and we told the party’s structure to support you and they did. The Zonal Chairman, Chief Dan Orbih was campaign manager under the COVID. COVID affected him and we had to take him out. People should not be ungrateful in life”
Wike also recalled that former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, predicted that Obaseki would win the election but that he would not stay in PDP.
On having a presidential ambition, the Rivers State Governor said: “I am qualified if not more than qualified. I challenged Obaseki and his cohorts, some of the presidential aspirants who are using him to talk to come out openly.
“If I decide to run tomorrow, I challenge everybody including Obaseki, what you will see you will say you never know this is how politics is. If I want to run, Obaseki can’t give me permission. I gave him the seat. I will win. Send your aspirants to pray I don’t come out, if I come out I will win them”.
Referring to Obaseki as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Rivers Governor said whereas people could see his giant strides that had transformed Port Harcourt, Edo’s capital city, Benin, had remained the same.
He asked Obaseki to leave MoUs and show performance asking him to defect from PDP. Wike also dared Obaseki to publish the contractors working on projects in Edo boasting that in Rivers, the contractors were known to members of the public.
Commenting on Edo PDP crisis, Wike said: “I cannot see how you can be a governor and you are looking for a party structure. It shows you don’t have the capacity. Who are the party leaders that will not come to the Governor? And you are looking for harmonisation.
“Harmonise what? Did we harmonise the governor and the deputy governor? When you were coming, why didn’t you give the PDP people Deputy Governor?
“Then you want to harmonise party structure that people have suffered. Show you are a leader. Leadership is not by mouth. It is by action. I challenge Obaseki to come and cause crisis in Rivers as he said I was causing in Edo.
“I cannot be intimidated. You have started what you cannot finish. I am a capacity Governor. If I have resources, it is to the glory of God and it is part of the resources that were deployed to you. If you are not happy return the resources”.
