President-elect Bola Tinubu thanked Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike on Wednesday for helping him win the hotly contested presidential election on February 25, 2023.
When he opened the Rumuokwuta/Rumuola Road Flyover in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, Tinubu, who was in the state at the request of the governor who had supported a transfer of power to the country’s south during the presidential election despite the fact that they belonged to different parties, made this statement.
Despite a “gruesome campaign, hard work, and victory,” Tinubu claimed, he could not have overcome formidable opposition like PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) without structural support from individuals like Wike.
When Wike’s ally and governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, attended the event, Tinubu praised him for “partnership” and expressed his happiness at having forged a relationship with the Rivers governor.
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“Your Excellency, Governor Nyesom Wike, you are very dependable,” Tinubu, an All Progressives Congress (APC) powerbroker told Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the event which was well-attended by APC stalwarts.
“Nyesom, I say thank-you for your contribution to my victory. I couldn’t have done it without some structural support,” said the former Lagos State governor who would be sworn in as Nigeria’s President on May 29, 2023.
“In his Excellency, I see a man of principle. He (Wike) took a principled stand that the Presidency must return to the South and he has the courage to stand by his conviction not minding whose ox is gored.
“He is indeed a man of great integrity; he did not choose to serve his own interest, not about him. Rather, the interest of the nation. You promoted unity, you promoted fairness, you championed justice. Thank you.
“There were so much gossips and speculations but you stood your ground.”
Along with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, the governors of Jigawa, Ebonyi, Kwara, and Imo, as well as a few former governors of the APC, Tinubu was in Rivers. and expressed his gratitude to Wike for declaring Wednesday a holiday in honour of his visit to the South-South state.
