P/HARCOURT – In the ongoing euphoria of the electoral victory, the South South coordinator of Bola Ahmed Tinubu Vanguard (BATV) and chairman of National Protocol Committee of Tinubu Independent Campaign Council in Rivers State (ICC), Chief Tony Okocha, has revealed that Governor Nyesom Wike was instrumental to the victory of Ahmed Bola Tinubu in Rivers State.
Chief Okocha who addressed journalists in Port Harcourt on Thursday said it’s an understatement to say if Governor Wike was key to the victory of Tinubu in Rivers
Okocha said without Wike’s human, material and financial support, Tinubu would not have come out victorious in the presidential election in Rivers State.
“I don’t even know the words to use to say that the governor was instrumental to Tinubu’s success. Wike is one million times instrumental to the making of APC victorious in Rivers State. IwasChief of Staff in2015 when we had the governor of APC. We have all the big names you hear today who have defected to different political parties to seek greener pastures.
“They tried all they could in 2015 but could not deliver the presidential candidate of APC in 2015. President Buhari in 2015 scored 65,000 in the presidential election in Rivers State as against two million votes and the PDP candidate Goodluck Jonathan won the majority votes and Wike was instrumental to that victory.
“In 2019 the matter became worse. What divided us in 2019 was the governorship and we could not still work together and what was the result. In 2019 the matter became worse. What divided us in 2019 was not the presidential election, it was the governorship election and so we all still worked together but the result was even more abysmal.
“In 2023 we have a governor who was working with the G5 governors and he joined forces with us and a few days to the election the same governor did not only throw his weight behind Tinubu. He told Rivers people that they should vote for somebody, the presidential candidate that will support Rivers people after he emerges as president”
