Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, has denied conspiring to defeat Peter Obi of the Labour Party in the election for president on February 25, 2023.
He said it is regrettable Peter Obi said he voted against him in the presidential election last month.
Peter Obi, he claimed, is ungrateful.
The governor added that he never encouraged Rivers residents to support Bola Ahmed Tinubu for president.
This was stated by Wike on Wednesday during a press conference with reporters in the state capital of Port Harcourt.
He refuted allegations that he corrupted the results of the presidential, national assembly, governor, and house of assembly elections in Rivers State to support his favoured candidates.
He claimed that by supporting Tinubu in the presidential election, Rivers contributed to the unity of Nigeria.
He emphasized that his objective for the presidential election was clear from the start: the leader must be from the South.
He continued by saying he had never opposed Peter Obi.
“I never told Rivers people to vote for Bola Ahmed Tinubu but for the Unity of Nigeria. As far as Rivers State is concerned, it was a power shift to the South. And there are two candidates from the South, Tinubu and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, so If the majority of Rivers People decided to vote for Tinubu and others for Peter Obi, that tells you the decision of the citizens.
“How can you talk about me rigging the election? I don’t work as ad-hoc staff for Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, so I am not in the place to rig elections for anybody. When you have INEC’s materials, you can talk about rigging.
“But I take exemption to Peter Obi’s comment that I came out against him, people are not being sincere and appreciative. In 2019, I was among the people who chose Peter Obi for Atiku Abubakar.
“I was faulted for the choice, people like Ike Ekweremadu and my friend, the Governor of Ebonyi State Pius Ayim. Every blame was on me; that why would I be the one to choose for the South East?
“Did he come out to say I supported him?
“I told Nigerians I will support a Southern candidate in the Presidential Election.
“When Peter Obi says I was against him, it is unfortunate because nobody ever told me that I campaigned against him. It is incorrect to say I was against him.
“I told my people to support a southern candidate, which they did; the first position in Rivers State during the poll was a south candidate, same with the second position."
In Rivers State during the presidential election on February 25, Tinubu received 231,591 votes to Peter Obi's 175,071 votes. After all the results from the several States were tallied, Tinubu received 8,794,726 votes, winning the presidency.
