The South-South Coordinator for Bola Almed Tinubu Vanguard (BATV) and Chairman, National Protocol Committee of Tinubu Independent Campaign Council (ICC) in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha, has said that Governor Nyesom Wike is instrumental in the victory of Ahmed Bola Tinubu in Rivers State.
Chief Okocha, who spoke to journalists in Port Harcourt on Thursday, said It was an understatement to say that Wike was key to the victory of Tinubu in Rivers State.
Okocha said without the governor’s human, material and financial supports, Tinubu would not have emerge victorious in the presidential election in the state.
He said, “I don’t even know the words to use to say that the governor was instrumental to Tinubu’s success. Wike is one-million times instrumental in making APC victorious in Rivers State.
“I was Chief of Staff in 2015. We had the governor of APC and we had all the big names you hear today who have defected to different political parties to seek greener pastures.
“They tried all they could in 2015 but could not deliver for the presidential candidate of APC in 2015. President Buhari in 2015 scored 65,000 in the presidential election in Rivers State as against two million votes and the PDP candidate, Goodluck Jonathan, won the majority votes. Wike was instrumental in that victory.
“In 2019, the matter became worse. What divided us in 2019 was the governorship and we could not still work together and what was the result? In 2019 the matter became worse. What divided us in 2019 was not the presidential election; it was the governorship election and so we all still worked together but the result was even more abysmal.
“In 2023, we have a governor who was working with the G-5 governors and he joined forces with us and few days to the election, the same governor did not only throw his weight behind Tinubu, he told Rivers people that they should vote for somebody – the presidential candidate that will support Rivers people after he emerges as president.
“He did not mince words that he has severed relationship with his party and he said clearly who to support and the political party to support. And we all know that Wike was not supporting Obi and we all know that Wike is not an armchair politician. He is a footsoldier politician. He is a political Field Marshall, so what else are we expecting?
“He pulled resources together, he mobilized human and material resources to ensure that Tinubu succeeded. From the benefit of knowledge as the Director of finance, I know that the only money that came to Rivers State was nothing to write home about.
“The money we had would not have been enough for the election so how did we mobilise money for the election, how it worked, who mobilized resources that made us score over 40% votes in Rivers State and today Tinubu is in high rating in Rivers State. So we commend Wike and we are very grateful to him.”
He advised the president-elect and his vice to see their mandate as a clarion call to service and not leadership, and to carry everybody along to deliver on their mandate.
