Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers State has gifted a mansion to Peter Odili, a former governor of the state on the occasion of his 74th birthday.
Mr. Kelvin Ebiri, media aide to the governor who disclosed this in a statement, said the residence was built and donated to Odili by the Rivers state Government.
According to Ebiri, Wike spoke on Monday during the 74th birthday reception organised to honour the former governor at the private residence built and donated to him by the State government in Old Government Residential Area, Port Harcourt.
Wike is a political godson to Dr. Odili, who was the state Governor from 1999 to 2007 and is commonly referred to as the golden governor of Nigeria.
Governor Wike was the executive chairman of Obio/Akpor local government Area of the state when Odili held sway as Governor.
The statement by the governor’s spokesman partly read, “There was a time every political class abandoned Dr. Odili. This is a man who gave us everything. Some people called him Mr. Donatus.
“There was no abuse he did not get. Everybody he tried to help their families, at the end of the day, all betrayed him.
“For us, we have used him as a school and we thank him for making himself available for us to use him to learn so that we won’t be shocked of whatever that is going to happened.”
The Governor expressed delight for the opportunity to have known Dr. Odili and be able to celebrate him, pointing to the several support and gains from the political tutelage under Dr. Odili that had made him accomplish his political successes.
He reiterated that the benevolence of the Odili’s made it possible for Ikwerre sons to emerge governors of Rivers State.
In his response, former Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili said he and his wife, Hon. Justice Mary Odili (retired) were overwhelmed by the birthday gift courtesy of the State government.
Odili explained that during his tenure as governor, governor Wike was the best performing council chairman in the State.
He lauded Wike for investing in human capacity development, infrastructure, and building the best Law School campus in Port Harcourt.