Amid accusations by many members of Obidient Movement of orchestrating the rigging of the just concluded presidential election in his state, the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has declared Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) as the hero of the presidential polls.
Wike, who addressed a town hall with Igbo traders in Port Harcourt, the state capital, said despite Obi not having been declared the winner, his participation in the election guaranteed the emergence of a southerner as the President-elect.
According to the governor, the states where Obi recorded victories would have been won by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), thereby retaining power in the North.
He is one of the five aggrieved PDP governors known as G5 who refused to support their party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over an alleged violation of the party’s constitution on zoning.
“In this election that we just did,” he said, “Obi is my hero, as far as I’m concerned. If he didn’t contest, power would have remained in the North.”
Wike urged the traders to ignore comments by detectors and vote for the PDP in the March 18 governorship and state assembly elections.
The governor also debunked allegations of working against Obi’s presidential bid.
Others in attendance were the governorship candidate of the PDP in the state, Sim Fubara; the South-South Vice Chairman of the PDP, Dan Orbih, among others.
He told the traders he came to the market because he had heard they were angry with him that he allegedly worked against Obi during the presidential election.
Wike explained that he had no reason to work against the former Anambra governor when he and other G5 governors advocated for southern presidency.
The Rivers governor said he was bound by his agreement with the other aggrieved governors, the reason he did not openly endorse a presidential candidate, adding that it was important to have a united region after the election.
He then took a tour of the phone and computer market at the Garrison junction, where he announced the donation of 30 plots of land for their ICT village project.
Wike, who met with traders in the Mile 3 Market, granted their request for 150 plots of land for the building of their market.
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