The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has declared Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) as the hero of the just concluded presidential election.
Wike, who addressed a town hall with Igbo traders in Port Harcourt, the state capital, said despite Obi not having been declared the winner, his participation in the election guaranteed the emergence of a southerner as the President-elect.
According to the governor, the states where Obi recorded victories would have been won by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), thereby retaining power in the North.
He is one of the five aggrieved PDP governors known as G5 who refused to support their party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over an alleged violation of the party’s constitution on zoning.
“In this election that we just did,” he said, “Obi is my hero, as far as I’m concerned. If he didn’t contest, power would have remained in the North.”
Wike said this in an interactive meeting with Technical Dealers Association of Nigeria, Computer Dealers Association, Garrison Phone Dealers Association and Building Materials Traders Association in Port Harcourt on Saturday, who are predominantly Igbos.
You would recall that most Igbos across Nigeria accused Wike of working against Peter Obi’s presidency which he explained that contrary to insinuation that he did not support Peter Obi, what most people failed to realise is that the Labour Party presidential candidate remains the hero of the election, asking the people with such an opinion to forgive him if he has in anyway offended them.
According to Wike, “The hero in this election is Obi whether you like it or not. I am not here to please you, Obi is the hero. He may not have been pronounced as the winner, no problem, the law will take its course. If Obi did not run this election, power would have remained in the North. Whether he is declared a winner now or not, history will be on his side that he fought and fought well.”
