Tribunal: Why I Congratulated Buhari – Governor Wike

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari following his victory at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal because he won.

Speaking at an event in Emohua on Thursday, while reacting to criticism that accompanied his congratulatory message to Buhari after the tribunal dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s petition, Wike said it was better for him to congratulate Buhari in public than to visit him at night.

According to him, some PDP governors visit President Buhari at nights, saying he made his congratulation public because it came from the heart.

“I am sure all of you are surprised that I congratulated Buhari. Is it not good for me to congratulate him than to go to his house in the night?

“So many PDP Governors go to see him in his house in the night. I have never gone and I will not go. I won’t go,” Governor Wike was quoted as saying in a statement by his Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu.

He added, “We are the only state that the Federal Government refused to pay us our money used to execute Federal projects because I don’t go to see him in the night and I won’t go.

“He is not my friend, he is not doing well, but he won in court, should I say that the court did wrong? No.”

He further added that politics for him is about interest, and “Anything that is against the interest of Rivers State, I will not agree. These people sold us out, thinking that they are doing Governor Wike. It is the state that you are offending because I am just one person,” Wike said.

“They should not punish Rivers State because of me, I am just one individual.

“We have not benefited anything from the Federal Government. The only thing we have benefited is the abuse they heap on me.”