Odili Said I’m The Best Governor Rivers Ever Had… He’s Now Painting Me Bad, Says Wike

Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has said that Peter Odili once praised him as the best governor that Rivers state ever had.

Wike, who spoke in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital, on Friday at a luncheon he hosted, was responding to allegations by Odili, a former governor of the state, that he (Wike) almost turned Rivers into his private estate.

Odili said Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers, emancipated the people by preventing Wike from turning the state into his property.

However, while replying to Odili, Wike referenced many accolades that his predecessor poured on him while he was the state governor.

“I have never gone to anybody. I never went to any television to say I did this; I did that. I said, you were the one going about telling people what we did, what I did,” Wike said.

“And how do you now go back telling those people. That is what I said, and you want to kill me. Is that proper?

“So, I don’t know how they went and watched this documentary here because I told those … from what was said last night or the other day.

“You see, you said so. Look at the statement of elder statesman. God will bless you for what you have done, God will bless you for the people you have paid for. In the next five, six years, you have made Rivers state a medical hub. Am I the one who said so? I’m not the one who said so. I never said so. Is that not correct?

“If it was possible for me, you should go for third time, am I the one that said so? Now, how did I now come to convert Rivers state to a personal estate? How did I?

“I paid money for Rivers people to be medical doctors. I am trying to make Rivers state the medical hub of south-south Nigeria.

“How did I now come to convert Rivers state into a personal estate?

“I am the best governor in Nigeria. I’m the best governor that Rivers state has ever produced. How did I convert Rivers state as my personal estate? And people will not answer simple questions.”

The FCT Minister also carpeted Odili, who according to him was in charge of Rivers in 2001 when militancy started in the Niger Delta region.

”In August 2001, how did Rivers State turn to a militant state? Who was in charge in 2001? Between the bush boy and vigilante. Was I governor? I was not governor, 2001 to 2007,” Wike said.

“It doesn’t matter where you belong to, it doesn’t matter the ethnic group you belong to. As a man who has conscience, as a woman who has conscience, as a lover of this state, who killed who?

“I would not mention names, but Almighty God, whoever that conspired, whoever that served to make sure that the people of the state, innocent souls died from Okirika to anywhere.”

In a similar statement on Sunday, Lere Olayinka, media aide to Wike, quoted his principal as saying that Odili is reducing himself to a laughingstock.