Former Chief of Staff to Rotimi Amaechi, an ex-governor of Rivers state, Chief Tony Okocha, has said neither his former boss nor Senator Magnus Abe worked for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the 2023 general elections.
Rather, he said, the immediate past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader, mobilised for the victory of Tinubu, an All Progressives Congress(APC) presidential candidate at the poll.
Amaechi, the transports minister under the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration contested alongside Tinubu, then Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and some others during the APC presidential primaries.
Also, Abe, it would be recalled, dumped the APC for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), on which platform it contested the governorship election and lost to PDP’s Siminalaye Fubara.
Speaking to some select journalists Tuesday in Abuja, Okocha said his support for Wike for consideration as a minister under the Tinubu’s APC-led government was based on fairness and justice.
He said: “Neither Amaechi nor Magnus worked for Tinubu during the election. What saved the day for us was Wike who mobilsied support for Tinubu. If there’s anybody who had benefitted from the PDP in Nigeria, it is Wike, and that is why he has remained consistent as a PDP person.
“In the election of Rivers, we have 32-member House of Assembly and Wike cleared all the 32 for PDP, 13 House of Reps, he cleared 12 for PDP, three senatorial seats, he cleared all for PDP. So, why didn’t PDP win presidential election? Remember, Wike told Atiku(Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate) that until you right the wrong by removing Ayu as the national chairman for fairness, you won’t have my support.
“I was working with Wike’s PDP in the 6,688 polling units during the poll. APC didn’t bring money. The only money that came to Rivers was N10million which was sent to the party’s governorship candidate who was also with Amaechi.
“Wike was the man that paid the piper. I can tell you that without Wike, Obi would have swept Rivers clean during the presidential election. It was only in Rivers in the whole of South-south and South-east that Tinubu won. Even Abe acknowledged this in some of his grandstanding that in their PCC (APC), they had written off Rivers, but that Wike is the spin doctor and game changer. Abe delivered his two units to SDP, Amaechi reconciled with Omeha(Celestine, former governor) and the two of them delivered their Ward 8 Unit to PDP.”
