Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said that the international community played a huge role in ensuring a smooth governorship election in Edo State.
Speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, the governor explained that threatening to place a visa ban on anyone found guilty of rigging, forced people to act appropriately.
“One thing that played out and which I noticed was the role of the international community. For example, the US, the UK came out and said that there would be a visa ban if anybody tries anything in terms of violence or rigging and they have gone further to ban some governors,” he said.
He said Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State will not leave Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, after winning a second term in last Saturday’s governorship election on the party’s platform.
He said “It is impossible,” but that “assuming it happens, so what? That is politics. There is nothing wrong if the governor (Obaseki) believes that PDP is no longer the party for him to actualise his vision and mission.
“But he (Obaseki) has consistently told us that there’s no way he will leave PDP. If he does, for example, the people of Edo State will not be happy and he is somebody I have that trust in.
“The party clothed him and when it was raining gave him the umbrella.”
“APC is not a political party. It’s people who came together to take power from PDP. That is the crisis they are having together.
“It’s a party of strange bedfellow that came together to conspire against the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.”
On the other hand, he noted, “PDP has been PDP since 1999 and not made up of different parties,” adding that protection is why politicians are jumping from one party to the other.
Asked what role he played in the Edo election, Wike said he did nothing special and that the victory was a collective effort, giving “kudos the governors of Oyo and Delta states” who “contributed immensely to the success of the governor of Edo State.”
He added that it was a mistake to say he deployed resources for the election, asking what resources does a sitting governor need.
