Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers has revealed why he thinks Peter Obi left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to contest for president under the Labour Party in the recently conducted February 25 election.

“Obi was running with us. I knew when Obi left. He was principled and he said he can’t stand it, people should say the truth. He went to see Sule Lamido in Jigawa, not in Dutse, but in a village that will take you more than four or five hours drive from Dutse the capital.

“You know what he told Obi? He didn’t tell him that look, you came late and I have chosen somebody. He said it is the north that will produce the next president. That was how Obi left saying why is he wasting time. Ask him, that’s how he left PDP,” Mr Wike said.

The governor made this revelation on Thursday, while hosting the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, at Government House in Port Harcourt, according to a statement by his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri.

Peoples Gazette cannot verify Mr Wike’s claim about Mr Lamido. However, during campaign Mr Lamido had called Mr Wike’s bluff, calling him a “bombastic emperor.”

Speaking further, the Rivers governor told the members of Ohanaeze that his party men from South-east sabotaged him from clinching the PDP presidential ticket.

“And that was what I saw at the convention ground. Within minutes, knowing that I was going to win, your sons were all the ones who did everything and sabotaged me. I said ok, no problem,” Mr Wike said

In a hotly contested primaries in May 2022, Atiku Abubakar polled 371 votes to defeat Mr Wike who polled 237.

After he lost the primary election to Mr Abubakar and was not picked as vice-presidential candidate, Mr Wike and four other aggrieved PDP governors worked against the party’s candidate in the February 25 election.

Mr Wike’s revelation on the behind the scene events in the party comes a week after the PDP was defeated in the presidential election.

The governor has insisted that he has no regret working against the party’s candidate.