Governor Wike Opens Up on How PDP Wooed President-elect Bola Tinubu
- The governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, has said he made efforts to lure Bola Tinubu to the PDP
- Since the return to democratic rule in 1999, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has never teamed up with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
- Wike said Tinubu told him he prefers to support President Muhammadu Buhari “200 times” and would not throw his weight behind any PDP candidate in the 2019 election
Port Harcourt, Rivers State - Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sent him to try to persuade Bola Ahmed Tinubu to leave the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the main opposition.
Legit.ng reports that Wike disclosed that the PDP tried to lure Tinubu to their party in the build-up to the 2019 general elections. However, the APC chieftain turned down the offer, according to Leadership Newspaper.
Source: Facebook
Tinubu is the Nigerian president-elect and is expected to be sworn in on May 29.
Per The Punch, speaking on Wednesday, May 3, at the Government House, Port Harcourt during a state banquet in honour of the President-elect, who is on a two-day official visit to Rivers State, Wike said:
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“I met him (Tinubu) first in 2018 around 2:00am 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.”
Tinubu clarifies witty remark
Meanwhile, Tinubu has clarified his comment on a banter with Governor Wike over his demand on 12 flyover bridges his administration constructed.
During Tinubu's two-day visit to the state on Wednesday, May 3, Wike jokingly urged the president-elect to refund the state for the flyover bridges because they are federal government projects.
However, while speaking at a banquet for him on Wednesday evening, Tinubu said his response in the morning was misinterpreted by the media.
"I owe you nothing": Tinubu to Wike
The Rivers governor had earlier joked that the Federal Government should pay for all the 12 bridges he constructed because they should have been constructed by the federal government. Tinubu replied to the governor saying ‘I owe you nothing'. Subsequently, the former Lagos State governor explained at a banquette in the night that he only meant that he did not have the power to respond to that because he was still a president-elect.
Tinubu in Rivers
Legit.ng earlier reported that Governor Wike hosted the president-elect on Wednesday.
The incoming president was in Rivers State to inaugurate the Rumuokwuta/Rumuola Flyover.
Some of the dignitaries present at the occasion include the wife of the Rivers State governor, Hon. Justice Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; governors of Oyo State, Seye Makinde; Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Senator Hope Uzodinma (Imo), David Umahi (Ebonyi).
Source: Legit.ng
