The governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has claimed that Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, did not receive power without effort on his part.

At a dinner honoring Tinubu, who was in Rivers State to dedicate a few of the governor’s legacy projects, Wike said this on Wednesday.

He recalled how Tinubu gave him a white wine early in the morning when he went to his Lagos home in 2018 to convince him to back one of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidates for the 2019 presidential election.

I went to him and said, “Sir, I heard you can’t get a foothold in APC,” he said. Join us and help one of these candidates win the 2019 election by lending your support. He inquired as to the identities of my applicants. When I brought them up, he responded, “Look, if it’s these you’ve got, I’ll support Buhari 200 times.”

“That early morning, he [Tinubu] handed me some white wine. I respected him, too. He is ready, as I am aware. He was not power dashed. We all witnessed it. You will observe the results of his labor for the power after he went there and did it. When they try to take your power away, you slack off, but you work when you fight for it.