Starrys Obazei/November 16, 2022.
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike on Wednesday apologized to former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole.
Wike apologized to Oshiomhole at the inauguration of the Rumuepirikom Flyover in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state.
“We are now friends, let bygones be bygones,” Wike said, addressing Oshiomhole.
The Rivers State governor said he regretted working for the re-election of Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki in September 2020.
Wike, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fell out with Obaseki earlier in 2022.
Obaseki and Wike have been at logger-heads 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.
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 could not secure the APC ticket gotten by Osagie Ize-Iyamu, to return to office in 2020.
Obaseki moved to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and consulted with Wike as seen by his many visits to the Rivers governor’s residence.
He subsequently got the PDP 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.
Wike’s regret for working with the PDP for the re-election of Obaseki was first made public in March 2022.
The Rivers governor apologized to Oshiomhole for not believing him when he said Obaseki would show his true color after he joined the PDP.
Wike alleged that Obaseki was ungrateful to the party and the people who supported him to be re-elected when he left the All Progressives Congress (APC). He went ahead to apologize to Oshiomhole saying: “If you check the DNA of Obaseki, what you will see in that DNA is betrayal, serial betrayal, and ungratefulness.” He said this while addressing a crowd at the commissioning of a secondary school in Omuanwa community, Rivers State in March.