PORT HARCOURT, Rivers — At a special Thanksgiving service organized by his family on Sunday, June 18, 2023, Nyesom Wike, the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, unveiled a series of life-threatening experiences that he faced during his eight-year tenure.
Held at St. Peters Deanery, Rumuepirikom, Obio-Akpor, the event drew hundreds of dignitaries and prominent figures from across the country, who listened in shock as Wike revealed his closely guarded secrets.
Among the attendees were President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, represented by Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Deputy Senate President, over 35 members of the House of Representatives, several former Governors, former ministers, royal fathers, captains of industries, and the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Wike disclosed that he was poisoned at the PDP secretariat in December 2018, an act that severely damaged his liver and kidneys and nearly cost him his life.
He shared details of his subsequent airlift to a hospital in Beirut at midnight where, after a battery of tests, doctors informed him that his liver and kidney were “all gone.”
“I didn’t know I had been poisoned at our party’s secretariat,” he confessed, adding that after treatment, the doctors reported that his organs had started working again. “In December 2018, it was a day my former Chief of Staff was going to have Thanksgiving. I was to attend that Thanksgiving. From that Sunday I never came down from my room. It was bad,” Wike shared.
In addition to the poisoning incident, the former Governor narrated other alarming events including the diagnosis of his wife with cancer during his presidential primary campaign and a fire incident that gutted his wife’s room, destroying all her belongings.
Furthermore, he recounted how God saved him and three other leaders from a plane crash. “15 minutes after take-off at the airforce base, we heard an explosion. They locked the cockpit. One engine is gone and the pilot said it was safer to turn back to Port Harcourt. Before we landed, there were many ambulances and fire service trucks lined up. We landed safely by the Grace of God. I didn’t tell anybody,” he revealed.
Despite these harrowing incidents, Wike affirmed his gratitude for the peaceful transition in Rivers State and his victories in all the elections held in the state.
The former Governor used the opportunity to affirm his support for Akpabio for Senate Presidency, citing the N200m donation Akpabio made to his campaign in 2015. He expressed his belief in the principle of reciprocity, saying, “one good turn deserves another.”
