Wike Vowed In 2020 Not To Interfere With State Affairs After Leaving Office As Governor.
At the time, Wike supported Godwin Obaseki to become the governor of Edo State in the 2020 governorship election in the state after the latter fell out with his political godfather, Adams Oshiomhole.
Former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, who had vowed that godfatherism would not work in Rivers State, is now doing everything to lord it over his successor and current governor of the state, Siminalayi Fubara.
Wike, who was the governor of Rivers State for eight years between May 2015 and May 2023, has been battling to control political events in the state.
Wike, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in a viral interview he granted in 2020 while in office as governor of Rivers State, told the interviewer that godfatherism may have worked in Lagos State but wouldn’t work in Rivers.
At the time, Wike supported Godwin Obaseki to become the governor of Edo State in the 2020 governorship election in the state after the latter fell out with his political godfather, Adams Oshiomhole.
“It may happen in Lagos State but it will not happen in Rivers. We are quite different,” he said.
“As governor, I will come and go, I can’t stop it. I must come and go. Odili (referring to Peter Odili who was the state governor from 1999 to 2007) came and he left. You have never heard Odili saying that you will do this, you will not that. The day my tenure by the grace of God finishes, I will go.
“When you are in a position to think that what is happening in Lagos State, we will do it here; it may be difficult. You cannot continue to say you must be godfather of the state; that is the problem. It is not possible.
“The day I leave here in the name of the Almighty God, I have no business to say I must,” produce my successor, “why must I produce? Why? What have I hidden? People of the state should be able to say this is who they want to produce.”
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has expressed regrets supporting Governor Siminalayi Fubara to succeed him as the governor of Rivers State.
