The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has disclosed that in 2018, he attempted to persuade the President-elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to leave the All Progressives Congress (APC) and join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Wike revealed that he met with Tinubu at his Bourdillon residence in Lagos at around 2:00 am to convince him to join the main opposition party. The Governor made the statement during a state banquet in honor of the President-elect, who was on a two-day official visit to Rivers State, at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Wednesday night.
However, Wike mentioned that Tinubu declined his offer after he listed potential presidential candidates in PDP. Wike stated, “I met him first in 2018 around 2:00 am in his house -Bourdillon. I was sent to go and talk to him, how he can join us. I went to him, I said ‘sir, I hear you can’t find your feet again in APC. Why not join us and let’s support one of these our candidates to win the 2019 election? He asked me. Who are these your candidates, I mentioned them. He said look, if it is these ones you have, I will support (Muhammadu) Buhari 200 times. He told me that and I respected him.”
Regarding his support for Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, Wike stated, “We didn’t do anti-party, we supported the unity of Nigeria which is more important than any political party. Those who did anti-party are those who violated the provision of the constitution of their political party, they did anti-party. They must obey the constitution of our party; we cannot be held for anti-party.”
On the opposition presidential candidates who are challenging Tinubu’s victory at the Tribunal, Wike stated, “It’s only in Nigeria where I see if the opposition wins an election, that election was done well. It’s only in Nigeria I have seen that. If as a governor now, I contested Senate and I lose that election, they will say that election is free and fair. Why? Because the governor lost. But if I won, the governor has done everything. We saw governors who lost the election. Bola Tinubu lost Lagos – the presidential election, he lost Lagos, is it not correct? That election was free and fair in Lagos. Was it not free and fair in Lagos? Why? Because Bola Tinubu lost in Lagos. That is the kind of thing we do. If I lost the election in Rivers State, they will say ‘but we said it, his time is over, how do you think Wike would have won? Now I won, ‘don’t worry, they just manipulated’.
Look at states where governors lost elections, nobody is talking about it. That election was free and fair. Senators lost elections, those elections were free and fair. As far as I’m concerned, I have no regrets. I will continue to say, and I have told the President-elect, the elections have come and gone. You have finished that battle, the battle you have now is governance. What Nigerians want is good governance. If we want good governance, then we must rally around the President-elect.”
Source: https://leadership.ng/i-made-efforts-to-lure-tinubu-to-pdp-wike/
