Aide: Wike said ‘people’ — not Tinubu — advised him to vie for senate seat

Kelvin Ebiri, spokesperson of Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, says his principal never mentioned the name of Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), during his recent media chat.

Wike was quoted as saying Tinubu advised him to contest for a seat in the senate in the wake of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary.

Speaking during the interview on Friday, Wike had said he rejected the suggestion.

Clarifying his remarks in a statement on Saturday, Ebiri noted that Wike said “people” gave him the advice — and not Tinubu as reported.

“To lay the facts bare, we have decided to include herein the transcript of what governor Wike said concerning senatorial form,” Wike’s spokesperson said.

Ebiri added that at no point during the interview did the Rivers governor mention the APC standard bearer.

The statement also rehashed Wike’s remarks during the televised media chat.

“First of all, this is how you know those who are prepared to run an election. Some of them collected presidential form at the same time collected senatorial form. You’ll know that those people are not serious to run,” Wike was quoted as saying.

“I never collected senatorial form. Even after the whole thing, people said come and go for Senate, I said no. I won’t do that. I’ve already made a commitment that this Senate ticket should be zoned to this area (Etche) because they’ve never had it before. I must not be in power.”