Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, on Wednesday said even though the Governor-elect, Siminialayi Fubara, who will succeed him in office is a quiet person, he will perform well as governor of the state.
Describing Fubara as an achiever, Wike said as someone who was part of his government and knows where he stopped, it is left for the new Governor-elect to make his mark and fill the “big shoe” he is leaving behind.
“For everybody, you determine what you want to do, you determine how your future want to be, if you way to go away politically it is left for you. See what I have done and I do know he (Fubara) is somebody who is calm, he is not the talking type, he is the quiet type but he is an achiever, he knows where we have stopped.
“It is for him to make his mark; it is for him to fill the big shoe I have left. He has worked with me, he has worked in the system from 2015. He resigned as Accountant General some months ago, he knows the government, he knows what the government has done,” Wike said in a media chat.
The governor berated those who allege that he is planting Fubara to succeed him so he could be influencing the new governor. He said his interest is someone who can outperform him and not someone he can influence.
“It is my hope that he (Fubara) performs better and people will say look we are happy of the product you chose for us, that is my own happiness. It is not to begin to influence him. Influence him to do what? Is it to ask him for money or to bring money to my wife? What kind of system is that?
Wike noted that even though he has done a lot of work in Rivers State, there are still a lot his successor can do, adding that the new governor will shock everybody.
“There are so many things left for him to do, so many things and I know by the grace of God he will shock everybody. When I came on board nobody ever believed I can do anything, they carried all kind of stories but today I have shocked everybody,” he said.
Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was the Accountant General under Governor Wike, was declared the winner of the governorship election conducted on Saturday in the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He polled 302,614 votes to defeat his closet rival Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who scored 95,274 votes while the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, Senator Magnus Abe, and Labour Party (LP)’s, Beatrice Itubo came a distant third and fourth with 46,981 and 22,224 votes respectively.