Former Rivers State coordinator of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign, Tony Okocha, has insisted the immediate past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, deserves the state’s ministerial slot in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
Okocha, former chief of staff to former governor Rotimi Amaechi, told newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, that the state chapter of the APC resolved to reward Wike with the ministerial slot and added that the former governor actively supported the APC to win the presidential election in the state when other top members abandoned the party.
He reiterated that Amaechi openly worked for and mobilised his men to vote for the PDP candidate in the election, Atiku Abubakar. Okocha also said Magnus Abe abandoned the party and moved the APC structure to the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP).
“Neither Amaechi and his group nor Abe and his group worked for Tinubu. What helped us in Rivers State is the stupidity of PDP. At the centre of that is the spin doctor, Wike, former governor of my state. Since the inception of PDP in 1998, Rivers State has been a safe haven for PDP. It has won elections back to back. Even when we were in government, PDP still defeated us (in Rivers). Wike gave instructions to his PDP family because they had no candidate to vote for. Work with APC and it was me they were coming to work with because I was the arrowhead (of the APC).
“Abe had left, Amaechi had left. I’m bold to say that Wike took care of the election bills. He was the one that paid the piper. Without Wike’s huge support, material and financial, (Peter) Obi could have swept River State. Even to localise Wike to Rivers State, you are short-cutting and short-circuiting his influence. If the G-5 governors were intact with the PDP, PDP would have won.’’
He further explained that the decision was made at a meeting in Port Harcourt, which was unanimously supported by all APC members in the state.
“At the end of our meeting, somebody stood up and moved a motion. In that motion, the guy said, ‘it appears the PDP does not have value for Wike; they don’t appreciate the value he has’. No sooner than he moved the motion that the hall erupted; there was a standing ovation. That’s when we decided that ‘Wike, come to our party; come to Macedonia and help us. If Wike, who was in PDP could support APC to win, why is it that APC, having won, cannot also recompense the man who helped us to win? The point was made clearly that it was Wike, otherwise, I would have appropriated it to myself. I was keeping the house. He played 70 per cent or more of the role that made the election of Tinubu in Rivers State possible,” Okocha said.
Credit: Daily Sun