I made Amaechi governor – Governor Wike

Governor Nyesom Wike has claimed that his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi became Governor of Rivers state through his help.

Wike who served as Chief of Staff during Amaechi’s tenure, made the disclosure during an interview with BBC pidgin on Friday March 19.

The Rivers state Governor stated in the interview that he wonders how someone he made Governor will turn around to call him an employee.

He said;

“Amaechi and I were in the same party, and in politics, everybody has his own ambition. He had his ambition to be governor, and at the time, I didn’t. So, we fought and supported him to be governor.

“Now he’s in APC, and you don’t expect me as a PDP person to support what he does.

“I was the one God used to make Amaechi governor. I will even give you a tape from what he said in the church; that after God, I’m next. But when he was talking the other day, saying I was his staff, his employee, I said no problem.

“We all sat to make you governor, and I was the one who championed it. How do you call someone who made you governor an employee? When he became governor, he asked me; how are we going to run this government, and he offered me to be commissioner of finance, but I said no, let me be in the chief of staff office.

“That time I made him governor, I had power to choose. People know in this state.

“With his APC, did they even score 25 percent here during the 2015 and 2019 elections? His staff stopped him from winning Rivers for his presidential candidate? Stopped him from winning the governorship election for his candidate? Not even a senatorial seat?

“Well, we have passed that. He said over his dead body will I be governor, now I am looking for that dead body. I have been governor for eight years now. In 2015 when I won, they said PDP was in power, but I also won again in 2019 when APC was in power.”

Wike also accused his predecessor of mismanaging the state funds when he was governor. He reiterated that Ameachi allegedly sold the state’s gas turbine for $308,000 and left his government with $208,000.

The Governor said; “See the monorail, just 1.5 kilometre, they said they spent N54 billion. I am not saying anybody is corrupt, but just see all these monies we have mentioned.”