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I Was Not Vindictive Against Omehia, Says Wike

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Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has refuted claims that he was vindictive against the former Governor of the state, Celestine Omehia.

The Rivers governor was reacting to claims that he was vindictive against Omehia by signing the derecognition of the former governor into law.

Naija News reports that the Rivers Assembly had derecognised Omehia as a former governor and asked him to return all the benefits he received as the number citizen of the state within seven days.

Following the development, Wike signed Omehia’s derecognition into law, stating that he was derecognised because of an extant Supreme Court judgment that ousted him.

Speaking in an interview with some selected journalists on Friday in Port Harcourt, Wike said he was not vindictive against Omehia, saying that he only followed due process.

Wike stated that if he wants to be vindictive against the former governor, he would have recognised Omehia as governor when he assumed office in 2015.

The Rivers governor asserted that Omehia supported his presidential ambition during the PDP presidential primary election and that he now supports the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

He insisted that Omehia must refund the entitlements running into over N695m he allegedly wrongfully received as ex-governor for six months.

He said, “If the Assembly made a mistake, and they have now realised their mistake, what is wrong with that?

“I have signed the instrument of derecognition and he seizes to exist a former governor.”

Asked what will happen if Omehia doesn’t pay after seven days as directed, Wike said the government had a number of options.

He said: “But he (Omehia) has to pay or he challenges us in court. The Attorney General will advise us on what to do because the state government has a number of options to take.”

Ige Olugbenga is a fine-grained journalist. He loves the smell of a good lead and has a penchant for finding out something nobody else knows.