Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike yesterday recalled how the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, turned down offers to work against the reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
Wike said after meeting with a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, in Paris between 2017 and 2018, he was sent to the Bourdilion, to persuade Tinubu to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and work against Buhari.
The governor commended Tinubu for his steadfastness and loyalty to President Buhari, despite the challenges he had faced in the ruling party.
He said: “I came to your house in Bourdillon. I came and said to you sir, look at the way the country is moving. There is no way we can allow the current president to continue in 2019.
“You now asked me, okay, what are the alternatives? I said sir, we have Atiku, we have Tambuwal, we have Bukola. You laughed. You said, look, I will remain with Buhari. If these are your alternatives, I will remain with Buhari, that I don’t know them.”
The governor spoke when Tinubu, his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, and APC National Chairman Senator Abdullahi Adamu, visited him in Government House, Port Harcourt.
On Tinubu’s entourage were, Governors Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) ; Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), David Umahi (Ebonyi), former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva and Tony Okocha.