Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has sought forgiveness from with former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, for supporting the re-election of Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State in September 2020.
Wike spoke on Wednesday, at the inauguration of the Rumuepirikom Flyover in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state, which the ex-APC chairman commissioned.
Recall that Obaseki, in 2020, clashed with Oshiomhole, after the former labour leader, denied him the party’s gubernatorial ticket for second term.
The governor defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he contested against Ize Iyamu, Oshiomhole’s anointed candidate.
Wike was instrumental to his victory at the polls.
Recalling the events on Wednesday, Wike told Oshiomhole, “I use this opportunity to apologise to you. I came to Edo State to make sure your candidate didn’t win the election. I said you won’t win and you didn’t win. That assignment has been done and we now know who is who.
“We are now friends, let bygones be bygones.
“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 were praising me morning and night”, he said.
In his speech, Oshiomhole praised Wike for rebuilding Rivers, further noting that polity is not warfare.
“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 will use my mouth to talk what my eye saw. 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.
