*Says all evil plots against him failed
*Appreciates God for healing wife of cancer
*Tinubu describes ex-Rivers gov as a dogged fighter
Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
Former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, yesterday, recalled how he was poisoned by members of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2018, and thanked God for saving his life and family from all political gang-up while he was in office.
Wike, who spoke at a family thanksgiving service organised in his honour at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Rumuepirikom, Obio/Akpor, also appreciated God for his wife, Justice Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike, for surviving cancer.
The former governor, who said he could not talk about his triumph in office as governor without attributing the victories to God, explained that in 2018, he was poisoned at the campaign secretariat of the PDP, and experienced liver and kidney failure as diagnosed in a hospital in Beirut, Lebanon.
Also, President Bola Tinubu, has described Wike as a dogged fighter who stood for fairness, equity and justice.
Telling his story, Wike said, on a Sunday in December 2018, when he was due to attend the thanksgivings of his former Chief of Staff, Chief Emeka Woke, he was incapacitated to attend the event because he had been poisoned.
“From that Sunday, I never came down from my room. It was bad, but those who attended the January 1st, State banquet of 2019, will know that I never spoke that day. I just sat down there and I told my deputy governor to speak on my behalf.
“People didn’t know what was going on. After that banquet, by 12 midnight, I was taken out of the country, because I thought it was over. When we got to Beirut, the doctors looked at me and I was looking at them. They were not telling me anything, they said we have to do many test.”
Wike explained that the next morning the doctors returned and presented a gloomy report that his kidney and liver were no longer functioning.
“I never knew that I had been poisoned in our campaign secretariat. My intestinal were all black. The doctors did all they could do,” adding that, through divine providence, what would have been a disastrous situation was miraculously turned around by God, who immediately began to restore his failed organs.
He said within one week, God healed him and he was able to return to Nigeria to continue with the 2019 campaign for his second term in office, adding also that in the days leading to the 2022 PDP presidential campaign, his wife, Eberechi, called him from London that she had been diagnosed of cancer.
The former governor said he was devastated by the news and even contemplated leaving the presidential race, but his wife urged him not to, and that to the glory of God , she was eventually healed of cancer and her life preserved.
According to him, God went further to grant him and the state a smooth political transition amidst gang-up that was staged by the same people, who promised to abide by the collective decision of Rivers elders over who becomes his successor.
Wike, however, said because the right successor was chosen, he was already enjoying peace.
Speaking too, Tinubu, who described Wike as a dogged fighter, who stood for fairness, equity and justice, said Wike has since 1999 distinguished himself in public office as a worthy patriot, a detribalised and outstanding Nigerian, who truly deserves to be celebrated.
The president, who was represented by the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the former governor Wike was not just a brother of his, but a worthy patriot, whom he respected.
“He is a worthy patriot. He is a man that is completely detribalised. He is an outstanding Nigerian. He is a pride to the Niger Delta, he is a pride to Rivers State, he is worthy a Nigerian,” he said.
Tinubu explained that he admired Wike for standing for his conviction and also for distinguishing himself in past 24 years in public service first as a former local government chairman, then former chief of staff to a governor, a former minister and of course, two term governor of Rivers State
“Nyesom Wike has served this state (Rivers) very well. Nyesom WIke has served this country very well and he deserves every recognition and every applause we are all giving to him today as a dogged fighter, as a man that believes in fairness, in equity and justice. He has continuously stood for what is right and proper and what is just.”
The incumbent governor, Siminalayi Fubara, said he was part of the political family of Wike, which was attacked by the political foes, but they failed to achieve their objectives, saying because of the culture of thanksgiving, Wike has continued to experience political victories.
Bishop of Niger Delta North diocese of the Anglican Communion, Rt. Rev. Wisdom Ihunwo, admonished the congregation to always remember that without God, no man could attain any position.
Those who graced the thanksgiving were, President Bola Tinubu, who was represented by the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Senate President Senator Godswill Akpabio, his deputy, Senator, Jibrin Barau, Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Hope Uzodinma (Imo), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi), and Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau).
Others were former governors of Ebonyi State, Senator David Umahi, Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), James Ibori (Delta), Dr Peter Odili (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Dr Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Jonah Jang (Plateau), and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), among others.
