By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has hit back at his Edo State counterpart, Godwin Obaseki, describing him as a serial betrayer and an ingrate.
Speaking at the commissioning of a secondary school in Omuanwa community, Rivers State, on Monday, Wike said Obaseki has refused to be grateful to the PDP and people who backed him to be re-elected when he was kicked out of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2020.
Wike, who tendered an apology to former National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, said the former Edo State Governor warned them about bringing Obaseki into the PDP fold.
“If you check the DNA of Obaseki, what you will see in that DNA is betrayal, serial betrayal, and ungratefulness.
“Let me stand today to apologise to Adams Oshiomhole who has been vindicated by telling us that we will see the true colour, the insincerity, the ungratefulness of Governor Obaseki.
“We have voted for PDP since 1999 till now; ask Governor Obaseki if he has done anything for PDP (or) voted for PDP. The only election he voted was his own election – where we gave him an umbrell,” Wike said.
Obaseki had earlier lambasted Wike after the Rivers State Governor attacked his deputy, Philip Shaibu, who said that PDP members who defected from the APC in Edo were not happy and do not feel accepted into the new party.
Obaseki had also said Nigeria needed strong democratic institutions and not strong men, stressing the need for the PDP to position itself to reclaim power at the centre in 2023.
Reacting, Wike described the comments by his Edo counterpart as a rant, saying governance was about feeling and touching, and not a memorandum of understanding.
He went on to highlight his contribution to the efforts that led to Governor Obaseki’s re-election, having served as the Director-General (DG) of his campaign organisation in 2020.
“Let me clearly say without any apology to anybody that one of the problems in this country is leadership, people who cannot stand firm and say this is white; this is black at all times.
“I am not in the class of Obaseki, never! We are not the same, we can’t be the same. I was the DG of his campaign, I went there (to Edo) for three days. I stayed there without having my bath. I have never seen somebody like that in my life – a serial betrayer.
“Let me tell you Obaseki, I know your cohorts and I will smoke all of you out. This is not the Benin artefact that you were challenging the Oba (of Benin), this is politics. Obaseki, I have more stake in PDP than you. I have fought for this party, mention one thing that you have done for the PDP,” Wike added.
