Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State disclosed on Saturday how he removed Rotimi Amaechi, the state’s former governor and current Minister of Transportation, from the state’s politics.
Wike made this claim in a statement issued on Saturday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, when he and former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, were awarded honorary doctorate degrees by PAMO University of Medical Sciences, PUMS.
He remarked that the former governor, under whose administration he served as Chief of Staff, tried but failed to end his political career.
He said, “Midway into his first tenure, I got the signal early enough that I have become a foe and pencilled down to be politically brought down, extinguished, or terminated.”
Wike revealed that, while his predecessor unwillingly placed his name among those he nominated for appointment as a minister by former President Goodluck Jonathan, he was never his first or preferred option.
“He, therefore, worked twice as hard behind the scene to truncate my confirmation by the Nigerian Senate but failed because God said otherwise.
“Moving forward and when he noticed my ambition to succeed him as the governor of Rivers State, he immediately drew the battle line and vowed that I could only succeed him over his dead body.
“Our contest was as intense and jugular as typical political enemies. Ultimately, I won and prevailed over him. But, he acted the coward by refusing to commit the suicide he had promised if I became the governor of Rivers State. Thank God he chickened out and did not die.”
