Nyesom Wike, the Governor of Rivers State, has recently opened up about his efforts to lure the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, away from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2018.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the governor made the revelation while speaking at a state banquet in honour of the President-elect on Wednesday in Port Harcourt.
Wike recounted his meeting with the former Lagos State governor at his Bourdillon home in Lagos at 2 am, where he made the proposal.
Wike said, “I met him first in 2018 around 2 am in his house -Bourdillon. I was sent to go and talk to him, how he can join us. I went to him, I said sir, I hear you can’t find your feet again in APC. Why not join us and let’s support one of these our candidates to win the 2019 election?
Despite Wike’s efforts to persuade him to join the PDP, Tinubu declined the offer after the Governor listed several potential presidential candidates in the party.
“He asked me. Who are these your candidates, I mentioned them. He said look, if it is these ones you have, I will support (Muhammadu) Buhari 200 times. He told me that. And I respected him,” he added.
On his support for Tinubu’s presidency, the governor said, “We didn’t do anti-party, we supported the unity of Nigeria which is more important than any political party. Those who did anti-party are those who violated the provision of the constitution of their political party, they did anti-party.”