APC masterminds lobby Tinubu to compensate Wike for carrying Rivers
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders are lobbying Bola Tinubu to compensate former Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike with a ministerial job for allegedly rigging the presidential election for Tinubu in a state reportedly won by Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
Media reports alleged Wike went round collation centres on February 25 to ensure election results were altered to favour Tinubu, but figures on Independent National Electoral Commission IReV portal have since shown it was Obi who actually carried Rivers.
The IReV result has been reported by both local and international media, including the BBC.
Regardless, Amalgamated Bola Tinubu Campaign Council Rivers State, led by Tony Okocha, Rivers APC chieftain and former Chief of Staff to the State Government, insisted Wike should be rewarded with a Tinubu job because of the “enormous” role he played in delivering Rivers to the President.
Okocha, who spoke in Abuja, urged the public to disregard the “cheap political stunt” by Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate Magnus Abe to “suddenly take the front seat on Tinubu’s political veranda,” after he left the APC at a time he was most needed.
He attributed Tinubu’s victory in Rivers to the effort of Wike, who he said kept the APC together when major stakeholders of the party in the state turned their backs.
“When [Rotimi] Ameachi had left, Magnus had left, what remained was the little I could control with an amalgamation of support groups.,” Okocha said.
“Since 1999, PDP has been in control of Rivers State back to back.
“Even in 2015, when I was Chief of Staff, Ameachi was Governor and during that Presidential election, APC scored about 69,000 votes, PDP scored about 2 million votes and we were in charge and he doubled as the DG of [the Muhammadu] Buhari Campaign in 2015, in 2019 Wike had become governor, it [the situation] became even worse.
“In 2015, APC scored 7 per cent, in 2019 we scored 5 per cent. Then, in 2023 APC is now winning. What was the magic?
“Wike’s PDP scored 32/32 in the state House of Assembly in Rivers state, Wike’s PDP scored 12/13 of House of Reps seats, Wike’s PDP scored 3/3 of the senatorial seats, Wike’s PDP won the governorship and then Wike’s PDP did not win Presidential election in Rivers State. What happened?
“Is it not the reason that all of us know that the G5 Governors said until things are made right, until power shifts to the South and that until Ayu resigned that they will not work for Atiku?
“Now, the spin doctor who made sure everything worked out for Tinubu, was Wike.
“We have 6,868 polling units in Rivers State across 319 wards and across 23 LGs and you and I know that every politician has his own polling unit agents that are paid on a stipend or the other. Who paid for the 6,868 agents in Rivers for APC?”
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G5 instrumental to Tinubu’s success
“The activities of the G5 are instrumental to the success of Tinubu in Nigerian politics today. Look at the ratio, APC won 12 states, and PDP won 10 states. Assuming PDP people worked together, they would have taken more states,” Okocha added, per Vanguard.
“I am telling you that in our own case, I am saying it categorically, I would have been the one person to say no don’t give it to him [Wike] because I had the house. He didn’t come to see an empty house. I would have decided to appropriate everything to myself and behave like a crab.
“If you have somebody that is more than you, why don’t you invite the person. If he helped us to win in 2023, are we now going to tell him to come to us in 2027 to help us win?
“Why don’t we bring him in because he has value to add. No politician in Rivers State today can surmount Wike. No one in Rivers State can challenge Wike. He is the best.
“We are saying that whatever is due us as Rivers State should be handed over to Wike because he knows who worked for Tinubu in Rivers. I would have claimed it all because I was the last man standing when everybody took off but we are saying, look, this man contributed more.
“Magnus’ media stunts are mere grandstanding and only for benefits. My own satisfaction is that if you marshal out Tinubu’s soldiers today, even people that hate me the most will say I was at the epicentre of Tinubu’s victory in Rivers State.
“To me, it is enough food; if there are other benefits that will come, they will be secondary but if anybody is coming out with the primary aim of getting an appointment, I will not accept.
“You’re now eulogising Tinubu, you didn’t know that Tinubu was the best person when you left him for another party.
“Now, you defeated him in your unit and ward but now that the man has won, you want to eulogize, you want to grandstand, you want to say all manner of good things just for political appointment, it will not work. It is against common sense and reason.”
