Governor Nyesom Wike of River State on Wednesday apologised to former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, saying he regretted working for the re-election of Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State in September 2020.
Wike tendered the apology to Oshiomhole at the inauguration of the Rumuepirikom Flyover in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state which the ex-APC chairman commissioned.
According to Wike, he has learnt and the past should remain in the past.
“I use this opportunity to apologise to you. I came to Edo State to make sure your candidate didn’t win election. I said you won’t win and you didn’t win. That assignment has been done and we now know who is who,” Wike told a smiling Oshiomhole.
“We are now friends, let bygones be bygones,” Wike, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) strongman told the ex-APC national chairman.
“I want to sincerely apologise to you. Each time you learn. People will praise you when you do for them. When you say, they are wrong, they begin to say all sorts of things.
“I’m sure those of them in my party before cannot do anything without Wike but because I said let the right thing be done, let agreement be agreement, I have now become an enemy. These are people who are praising me morning and night,” he maintained, noting that he stands on equity, fairness and justice.
Politics Is Not War — Oshiomhole
In his speech, Oshiomhole lauded Wike for the many “beautiful projects” in Rivers, saying results don’t lie.
According to him, executive exchanges have a way of communicating to the people that political divide is not war.
“I listened to you (Wike) attentively and you said Peter Obi is coming tomorrow. I want to congratulate you for that because I also invited Peter Obi when I was governor and those executive exchanges have a way of communicating to our people that political divide is not war,” Oshiomhole stated.
“I also invited governors from other states to Edo the last one week before my tenure as you said, for them to see what I was able to do.
“I promise that when I get back to Abuja, I go take my mouth talk am wetin my mouth see (sic). The flyover I saw is not a culvert. There are people who commissioned culverts and said they were flyovers but what I am seeing here is a beautiful flyover which you will see anywhere in the world,” he added.
Edo politics
Oshiomhole, who was Edo governor between 2008 and 2016, handed over to Obaseki who was then a member of the APC.
The two men, however, fell apart due to intra-party squabbles and Obaseki couldn’t secure APC ticket to return to office in 2020 gotten by Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Obaseki moved to PDP and joined forces with Wike as seen by his many visits to the Rivers strongman’s residence during the crisis preceding the Edo State Governorship Election in 2020.
The Edo governor subsequently got the PDP’s governorship ticket and defeated Ize-Iyamu who was backed by Oshiomhole and other APC stalwarts including former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari.
Of late, Obaseki and Wike have been at loggerheads amid a crisis rocking the PDP as the former backed PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar whilst Wike continued to demand the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu as a precondition to support Atiku’s presidential ambition for 2023.
