TheCable

Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, says Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), turned down an offer to betray President Muhammadu Buhari in the build-up to the 2019 elections.

Wike spoke on Wednesday when he hosted Tinubu at the government house in Port Harcourt, capital city of Rivers.

The governor said he paid Tinubu a visit to ask him to consider throwing his weight behind former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar or ex-Senate President Bukola Saraki.

“I came to your house in Bourdillon. I came and said to you, sir, to ‘look at the way the country is moving; there is no way we can allow the current president to continue in 2019’,” Wike said.

“You now asked me, ‘okay, what are the alternatives?’ I said ‘sir, we have Atiku, we have Tambuwal, we have Bukola’. You laughed. You said, ‘look, I will remain with Buhari. If these are your alternatives, I will remain with Buhari’.”

Citing the rift he had with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Wike said Tinubu possesses “character and courage” which are virtues required of any leader.

The Rivers governor also expressed dismay at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) “refusal” to obey a ruling of the supreme court which temporarily restrained the implementation of the February 10 deadline for the use of old naira notes.

“How can you people be in government at this time, and the governor of the central bank is disrespecting the supreme court?” he asked.

“Where has it happened in any democracy? Governor of the central bank thinking of whether to obey supreme court order? Where has it happened?”