Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has apologized to former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole for working against the emergence of All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate Osagie Ize-Iyamu as Edo State Governor in 2020.

“I take this opportunity to apologize to you. I came to Edo state to make sure that their candidate would not win the election,” Wike said in his remarks shortly before introducing Oshiomhole to commission a flyover in the state.

Wike was the head of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) campaign council that worked for the successful second-term election of Governor Godwin Obaseki, who joined the PDP shortly before the party’s Edo primary.

Obaseki, who succeeded Oshiomhole as Edo state governor, was first elected on the APC platform in 2016 but fell out with his then-political godfather, Oshiomhole, who was APC’s national chairman at the time.

Due to the rift between Messrs. Obaseki and Oshiomhole, Mr. Obaseki was denied a return ticket by the APC in 2020, forcing the governor to defect to the PDP, where he chose the gubernatorial ticket and eventually won the election for a second term.

Mr. Wike led the PDP’s campaign for the re-election of Mr. Obaseki. Both men later fell out over some political differences.

Addressing party supporters in Port Harcourt during the commissioning of the eighth flyover built by his administration, Wike apologized to Oshiomhole.

“I was virtually in charge and I went on TV to face you and I said you wouldn’t win and you didn’t win. That assignment has been made, but now we know who is who. I sincerely apologize.

“I want to tell my people that I sincerely apologize to you,” Governor Wike said.

the event was broadcast on TV channels and was monitored by mainstream media.

“People would praise you for what you do for them. The day you said no, you’re wrong, they started saying all kinds of things,” Wike said. However, he did not mention Mr. Obaseki’s name.

Governor Wike also touched on the PDP crisis. He said his only offense in the PDP is asking the party’s national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to keep his “promise” that he would resign if a northerner wins the PDP presidential primary.

Oshiomhole endorses Wike

In his remarks before commissioning the flyover which is located in Governor Wike’s village, Rumuepirikom, in the rivers area of ​​Obio-Akpor local government, Mr. Oshiomhole said that leadership is about character and not about doing promises that will not be fulfilled.

Oshiomhole recalled how he described Governor Wike as his man of the year for insisting that politics is about making promises and also being able to keep them.

He further recalled how 17 governors met in Asaba, Delta state, in May 2021 and resolved that the country’s next president should come from the southern region.

However, he denied sending the military to Rivers State during the 2019 election, as Wike alleges.