Intervention of wife of the then Governor of Rivers State, Justice Mary Odili, has been attributed to political exploits of the incumbent Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.
The appreciative Wike revealed at the Odili’s 70th birthday and retirement thanksgiving mass at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Chaplaincy, Catholic Institute of West Africa, (CIWA) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
He said he rushed to Odili upon a clue that he had been delisted for his second term tenure as chairmen of his Obio-Akpor Local Government council, recalling it was a day in 2004 when she was going to Bori Camp for women empowerment scheme.
Wike reminisced, “Now, they were having lunch with her husband and the state party chairman then, Prince Uche Secondus. And I was told that my name had been removed in the list. So, I ran down to the Government House.
“She has finished her own lunch, left her husband and was entering the vehicle. I said mummy I am finished. She asked what happened. I said they have removed my name.
“She ran back straight to her husband and informed him. Her husband asked who removed his name. At that time, Secondus had left. The husband then called the security at the gate, they stopped Secondus and ask him to come back.That was how I went back as second term chairman. For me, I can’t talk about my growth without mentioning her.
“If she was not around that day, to see the governor, you know it is not an easy thing. Her being around that particular day saved my career in politics. And so that was how I grew from there to become what I am today.”
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