Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has revealed how he edged his predecessor in office and current Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi out of reckoning in the politics of the State.
Wike gave the rare insight on Saturday, when he and former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, were awarded honorary doctorate degrees by PAMO University of Medical Sciences (PUMS) in Port Harcourt.
He noted that the former governor, in whose government he served as Chief of Staff, did everything he could to truncate his political career, but failed.
He said: “Midway into his first tenure, I got the signal early enough that I had become a foe and penciled down to be politically brought down, extinguished, or terminated.”
Wike explained that although Amaechi had reluctantly included his name among those he nominated to former President Goodluck Jonathan to be appointed as a minister, he was never his (Amaechi’s) first or preferred choice.
“He, therefore, worked twice as hard behind the scene to truncate my confirmation by the Senate but failed because God said otherwise.
“Moving forward and when he noticed my ambition to succeed him as the governor of Rivers State, he immediately drew the battle line and vowed that I could only succeed him over his dead body.
“Our contest was as intense and jugular as typical political enemies. Ultimately, I won and prevailed over him. But he acted the coward by refusing to commit the suicide he had promised if I became the governor of Rivers State. Thank God he chickened out and did not die.”