‘Wike never said Tinubu offered him senatorial ticket’

The Rivers State government has denied reports that Governor Nyesom Wike said presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu offered him a senatorial ticket.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Special Assistant on Media to the governor, Kelvin Ebiri.

According to him, not at any time in the interview Governor Wike granted TV stations on Friday did he mention Tinubu’s name.

“We wish to state emphatically that this news is false, baseless and ludicrous as the Rivers State governor throughout the media chat never mentioned the name of the APC presidential candidate or alluded to him offering him a senatorial ticket.

“To lay the facts bare, we have decided to include herein the transcript of what governor Wike said concerning senatorial form,” Ebiri said.

“First of all, this is how you know those who are prepared to run an election. Some of them collected presidential form at the same time collected senatorial form. You’ll know that those people are not serious to run.

“I never collected senatorial form. Even after the whole thing, people said come and go for Senate, I said no. I won’t do that. I’ve already made a commitment that this Senate ticket should be zoned to this area (Etche) because they’ve never had it before. I must not be in power,” he further quoted the governor as saying during the media chat.

“In an era of increasingly divisive political climate, the tendency to pervert the truth is extremely high. It is on this basis that we wish to remind journalists that journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.

“At this critical juncture in our nation, we wish to remind journalists that getting the facts right is the cardinal principle of journalism. Journalists are enjoined to always strive for accuracy and give all the relevant facts in their report.

“We, therefore, urge the unsuspecting public not to give any credence to this false, baseless and ill motivated reports,” Ebiri added.