Why I rejected Tinubu’s senate seat offer – Wike

Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has revealed why he rejected the advice of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to go to the senate when he lost the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential bid to Atiku Abubakar.

Speaking at a media chat on Friday, Wike said Tinubu pleaded with him to run for Senate, but he rejected the offer.

The Rivers State Governor added that he refused to make decisions that will affect the overall interest of the party despite the internal crisis at the national level, which he said was fomented by Atiku, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal and the party’s chair, Iyorchia Ayu.

He, however, stated that Ayu stepped down and gave room to equity and fairness in the party.

READ ALSO: Wike softens, proffers solutions for resolving PDP crisis, says Ayu must sacrifice, Atiku consider expediency

Asked if his actions after the primaries were not traits of a bad loser, he replied, I never collected senatorial forms, other candidates did and that is how you know those who are serious and those who are unserious.

He opined that he didn’t contest for the ticket because he wanted to settle for the position of vice president.

Imagine a national chairman, Ayu went ahead to describe Tambuwal as hero of the convention,

“You heard what Jang said, he described Ayu as a referee who helped one of the sides to score a goal and then blew a whistle that a goal had been scored.

“There’s nothing Ayu did not do for me not to emerge as the PDP candidate. Ayu did everything to manipulate the system to ensure that all the numbers did not add up,” he said.