Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, the immediate-past governor of Rivers State, has stated that he was poisoned in 2018 at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign secretariat in the state and suffered liver and kidney failure as a result.
The former governor was diagnosed with multiple organ failure in a hospital in Beirut, Lebanon.
He revealed how, on a tragic Sunday in December 2018, he was unable to attend the thanksgiving celebration of his then Chief of Staff, Chief Emeka Woke, because he had been poisoned, according to him.
Wike spoke during a family thanksgiving ceremony held in his honor on Sunday at St. Peter’s Anglican Church in the Rumuepirikom Deanery of the Diocese of Niger Delta North.
The former governor said: “From that Sunday, I never came down from my room. It was bad, but those who attended the January 1st State banquet of 2019, will know that I never spoke that day. I just sat down there and I told my deputy governor to speak on my behalf.
“People didn’t know what was going on. After that banquet, by 12 midnight, I was taken out of the country because I thought it was over. When we got to Beirut, the doctors looked at me and I was looking at them. They were not telling me anything. They said we have to do many tests.”
He claimed that the physicians returned the next morning with a depressing diagnosis that his kidney and liver were no longer functional.
Wike said: “I never knew that I had been poisoned in our campaign secretariat. My intestinal were all black. The doctors did all they could do.
“But, through divine providence, what would have been a disastrous situation was miraculously turned around by God, who immediately began to restore my failed organs.”
Wike stated that God cured him in one week and that he was able to return to Nigeria to complete his campaign for a second term in government in 2019.
In addition, the former Rivers State governor remembered that his wife, Hon. Justice Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike called him from London to inform him that she had been diagnosed with cancer days before the 2022 PDP presidential primary election.
He said he was heartbroken by the news and considered dropping out of the presidential run, but his wife begged him not to, and that, to God’s glory, his wife was subsequently healed of cancer and her life was saved.
“God went further to grant me and the state a smooth political transition amidst gang-up that was staged by the same people who promised to abide by the collective decision of Rivers elders over who becomes my successor.”
He remarked that he felt at peace because the correct successor was chosen.
Speaking at the ceremony, incumbent Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara stated that he is a member of Wike’s political family, which has been targeted by political opponents, but the opponents have failed to fulfill their goals.
Fubara emphasized that the former governor’s electoral achievements had continued due to the culture of thankfulness to God.
Rt. Rev. Wisdom Ihunwo, Bishop of the Anglican Communion’s Diocese of Niger Delta North, urged the congregation to remember that without God, no man can achieve any position.
President Bola Tinubu, who was represented by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio; and Deputy Senate President Senator Jibrin Barau were among those who attended the celebration.
Also present were Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Hope Uzodinma (Imo), Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa), Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru (Ebonyi) and Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang (Plateau).
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Other dignitaries included the former Governors David Umahi (Ebonyi), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), James Ibori (Delta), Dr Peter Odili (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Dr Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (Kano), Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo (Gombe), Jonah David Jang (Plateau) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo).
Members of the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Rivers State House of Assembly were also present.
