Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has claimed that he was nearly assassinated while working as the Chief of Staff to ex-Governor Chibuike Amaechi, in 2007.
Wike was the former Chief of Staff to former Governor Rotimi Amaechi during his first tenure.
The governor, who is aspiring for the office of the President under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, also slammed President Muhammadu Buhari and those that brought him (Buhari) to power in 2015, describing the current system as a failure.
Wike suggested that President Buhari’s alleged failure was because people came together and gave him power even when he was not ready to serve the country, insisting that it was wrong for people to get power, especially when it comes to presidential power, on a platter of gold.
“If you remember, when I was the Chief of Staff, on the 3rd of December, 2007, I was nearly assassinated. I was nearly assassinated on December 3rd, 2007 if I can remember vividly,” Wike said during an interview with Channels Television.
“Even at that point, I was a threat unknown to me. I’ve never one day said I want it on a platter of gold, never! In fact, when you give people things on a platter of gold, it doesn’t work well.
“Power is not given. Nobody is going to give you presidential power on a platter of gold.
“Take for example, President Buhari, people were saying, “give it to him, give it to him, he’s the messiah,” now look at what happens.
“That period they came to deceive Nigerians that ‘this is the only man who can solve the problems, this is the only man who has the key to Nigeria becoming one of the greatest countries’ and Nigerians were deceived and we all bought it. Now look at where we are today. They told Nigerians “if you don’t elect General Buhari, there’ll be no Nigeria again.” “