Verbal war: I am not your class, Wike blast Obaseki

Verbal war between River State Governor Nyesom Wike and his Edo State counterpart, Godwin Obaseki, got messier on Monday, with Wike saying he is not in the same class with the Edo State governor.

He goes further to say that betrayal runs in the DNA of Obaseki, adding that he is a serial betrayer.

Wike’s attack on Obaseki was in response to an earlier comment by the Edo State governor after Wike lambasted his Deputy, Philip Shaibu, for raising concerns over alleged unpleasant treatment the PDP is meting out to members of the party in Edo State, who defected to the PDP alongside Obaseki.

Obaseki had slammed Wike for having to blast his deputy without first reporting to him.

But Wike, during an inauguration of the Community Secondary School, Omuanwa, in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the State on Monday, said he owed the former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole an apology for opposing him when he insisted that Obaseki was a treacherous and ungrateful man.

According to a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, Wike said: “If you go and check the DNA of Godwin Obaseki, what you’ll see in that DNA is serial betrayal and ungratefulness. Let me stand today to apologise to Adams Oshiomhole, who has been vindicated by telling us that we will see the true colour, we’ll see the insincerity, we’ll see the ungratefulness of Godwin Obaseki.

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“So let me apologize to Adams Oshiomhole and to say you have been vindicated. You were right, we were wrong. I’ve never seen people who are so ungrateful in life. I’ve never seen people who can betray everything in life.”

Wike further said that Obaseki was never his match where character matters because he is consistent, sincere and a forthright team player, who has never betrayed any person who had helped him politically.

Wike said that the problem in Edo State stems from Governor Obaseki asking the National leadership of PDP to dissolve the Edo PDP executive when the leaders had been elected before he joined the party and had provided a formidable structure for him to win the election.

The Rivers State governor wondered why Obaseki is unable to bring everybody together and work with them but instead wants to unleash the illegality of APC in PDP, which is being resisted because ordinarily, he is a political tenant in PDP.

He said, “I’ve invested in the party, Rivers State has invested in the party. We have voted for PDP since 1999 till now. Ask Governor Obaseki, has he done anything for PDP? Has he voted for PDP? The only election he voted for was his own election when we gave him an umbrella.

“So who has more stake in PDP? I have more stake, because I’ve supported PDP always. You’ve never supported PDP, rather it was when your godfather chased you away and you can begging, kneeling down. People came with pressure and we allowed you. Ordinarily, you’re a tenant.”

The governor clarified that he fought the then sitting governor in Rivers State to access and take charge of the party structure in the state.

He said it is unfortunate that Obaseki could describe him as a bully now that he is being called to order, saying it was unfathomable that a man who came to him to get PDP’s governorship ticket in 2020 could now turn round to accuse him of being a bully.

“You came to beg a bully for you to have a ticket. A bully was your DG campaign and a bully bullied you into Government House. What a shame. It did not only end there. You came with your wife to thank the bully that after God, the bully made it possible for you to be there.”