Immediate past Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, has said that Governor Rotimi Amaechi unwillingly recommended him for ministerial appointment in 2011 in order to whittle down his political influence in the state.
He said his intention was to contest the senatorial election in 2011 to represent Rivers East Senatorial District but was denied the opportunity then.
The Rivers 2015 governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made this known while speaking on “Focus on Nigeria”, a programme on AIT, on Thursday.
He said the governor recommended him for the federal appointment, acting upon false information that he (Wike) was becoming too powerful and could not be trusted in the quest to find a successor in 2015.
He said following his elevation to the post of the Chief of Staff to Amaechi after his victory in 2007, some people started feeding the governor with false information that he (Wike) was becoming too powerful and should not be trusted.
“Amaechi was told that if he wanted to have a successor, without anybody disturbing him, there was the need to push me away from Rivers State, to go and be a minister, for my influence in the state to be reduced.”
First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has blessed the governorship aspiration of former Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, saying that the former minister is primed for the leadership of Rivers State.
Speaking when she paid a solidarity visit to the former minister in his Abuja residence on Thursday, Dame Jonathan said: “I am giving you the blessing of a mother. The blessing a mother gives to a beloved son.”
It was not a promotion for me, rather it was a strategy to make me less influential and to lose base.
“Amaechi never discussed with me that he was nominating me for ministerial appointment. 10 persons were nominated to be minister from Rivers State. I was the second person on the list. Atedo Peterside was the first person on the list. Tonye Cole was the third person,” he said.
Attributing the political animosity between him and Governor Amaechi to misinformation and lack of trust, he said it was not his ambition, initially, to succeed the governor.
“Succeeding Amaechi is certainly not my ambition. As events unfolded and time went by, a lot of things happened and I had to consult widely on whether to run or not. It is not as if I had the ambition all along to succeed Governor Amaechi.
“In 2006/2007 when we had the governorship primaries of PDP, I was the chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area then and I was the rallying point for Amaechi’s nomination and I was his agent.
“I gave Amaechi my word and I stood by him. Thereafter, I became Chief of Staff because I stood firm and because the government needed a strong character to be its engine room.
“But in politics, a lot of things will come in. Within one year, we started having problems. It is not that we started having problems when I became a minister,” he said.
Source: Tribune
He said his intention was to contest the senatorial election in 2011 to represent Rivers East Senatorial District but was denied the opportunity then.
The Rivers 2015 governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made this known while speaking on “Focus on Nigeria”, a programme on AIT, on Thursday.
He said the governor recommended him for the federal appointment, acting upon false information that he (Wike) was becoming too powerful and could not be trusted in the quest to find a successor in 2015.
He said following his elevation to the post of the Chief of Staff to Amaechi after his victory in 2007, some people started feeding the governor with false information that he (Wike) was becoming too powerful and should not be trusted.
“Amaechi was told that if he wanted to have a successor, without anybody disturbing him, there was the need to push me away from Rivers State, to go and be a minister, for my influence in the state to be reduced.”
First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has blessed the governorship aspiration of former Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, saying that the former minister is primed for the leadership of Rivers State.
Speaking when she paid a solidarity visit to the former minister in his Abuja residence on Thursday, Dame Jonathan said: “I am giving you the blessing of a mother. The blessing a mother gives to a beloved son.”
It was not a promotion for me, rather it was a strategy to make me less influential and to lose base.
“Amaechi never discussed with me that he was nominating me for ministerial appointment. 10 persons were nominated to be minister from Rivers State. I was the second person on the list. Atedo Peterside was the first person on the list. Tonye Cole was the third person,” he said.
Attributing the political animosity between him and Governor Amaechi to misinformation and lack of trust, he said it was not his ambition, initially, to succeed the governor.
“Succeeding Amaechi is certainly not my ambition. As events unfolded and time went by, a lot of things happened and I had to consult widely on whether to run or not. It is not as if I had the ambition all along to succeed Governor Amaechi.
“In 2006/2007 when we had the governorship primaries of PDP, I was the chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area then and I was the rallying point for Amaechi’s nomination and I was his agent.
“I gave Amaechi my word and I stood by him. Thereafter, I became Chief of Staff because I stood firm and because the government needed a strong character to be its engine room.
“But in politics, a lot of things will come in. Within one year, we started having problems. It is not that we started having problems when I became a minister,” he said.
Source: Tribune
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