2023: Wike Rejects Atiku
By The Evangelist
October 25, 2022
•Rivers governor vows not to campaign for PDP standard bearer
•Inaugurates council for Rivers’ party’s candidates
THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sank deeper into crisis yesterday with Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike vowing not to campaign for his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Wike’s bombshell compounded the lingering row in the opposition party over the retention of Dr. Iyorchia Ayu as national chairman.
Ayu has been under pressure from the five PDP governors – Wike, Samuel Ortom (Benue); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), and some chieftains, including former Information Minister Prof Jerry Gana and Chief Olabode George, to step down.
The Ayu must-go crusaders argue that having the presidential flagbearer and the national chairmen from the same region negated equity.
Besides, they asked Ayu to honour his word since he promised ab-initio to quit for a national chairman from the South if a northern clinched the presidential ticket.
Before yesterday’s rejection of Atiku, Wike and his allies had pulled out of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) to protest Ayu’s continued stay in office.
Justifying his latest action, Wike said the actions of the one-time vice president has shown that he would need neither his support as the leader of the party in Rivers, nor that of the PDP members as presidential candidates stepped up their campaigns for the poll scheduled for February 25, next year.
The governor insisted that those who disrespected the state and its electoral importance do not deserve the Rivers electorate votes, whether for themselves or their candidates in the 2023 general election.
According to him, Atiku and the PDP leadership had shown that they placed no value on Rivers by picking people from the state into their campaign council without his input.
Wike, who dropped the bombshell at the inauguration of the Rivers State campaign council for candidates of the party in Port Harcourt for PDP, said: “The presidential candidate entered Rivers State and picked those he wants to pick without the contribution of the governor.
“So, they said they don’t need me to campaign for them; they don’t need Rivers people to campaign for them. Will you force yourself on them?
“I have never seen how people will disrespect a state like Rivers and go and choose those who are enemies of the state, without the contribution from us. So, let’s campaign for those who have told us to campaign for them here in the state, the governorship candidate, the senatorial candidates and others.”
Wike said that Rivers had been treated badly in the past despite the bulk votes it had delivered to the PDP since 1999.
He said the era of people demanding for votes in the state while they are unwilling to accommodate the state’s interest was over.
Wike said: “Politics is a game of interest. If nobody accommodates the interest of Rivers State, then we have nothing to do with such people. If you say that you have no interest in Rivers State, Rivers State will not have your interest. It is only those who like us that we will like.
“I have told people who care that Rivers State has voted PDP since 1999. Of this support we have given since 1999 till now, can you mention one thing that we have gotten in this state? Can you mention one road that we have gotten? All they care about is to use Rivers State to bring votes, after bringing votes, you push us aside. That will not happen again.”
have no interest in Rivers State, Rivers State will not have your interest. It is only those who like us that we will like.
“I have told people who care that Rivers State has voted PDP since 1999. Of this support we have given since 1999 till now, can you mention one thing that we have gotten in this state? Can you mention one road that we have gotten? All they care about is to use Rivers State to bring votes, after bringing votes, you push us aside. That will not happen again.”
He advised members of the Rivers PDP campaign council to have a different mindset because the strategies to be adopted for the 2023 election would be different.
In his view, the PDP in the state had done well for the people, with the feat attested to by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying it had made it more difficult for any party to have a chance of winning elections in the state.
Wike said Rivers remained the envy of other states because of his remarkable achievements in office, which, he said, would benefit all PDP candidates in the state during campaigns.
The governor said he had directed the release of N50 billion to contractors handling projects in the state to enable them to speed up work.
He assured that more projects, such as the Dr. Peter Odili Cancer and Cardiovascular Diagnosis Treatment Centre, the eighth and ninth flyover bridges and Phase One of the Trans-Kalabari Road, Saapkenwa – Bori-Kono Road, among others, would be inaugurated soon.
The alternate chairman of the Rivers PDP campaign council, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba, said they had accepted the assignment given to them and were determined to do their best to deliver the consolidation of the New Rivers Vision.
The party chieftain said the transformation of Rivers under Wike’s watch since 2015 had further endeared the PDP to the people, saying it had given them a head start above other parties.
Alabraba said members of the council would work hard to deliver all 32 candidates of the House of Assembly, 13 members for the House of Representatives, the three senatorial candidates and the governorship candidate in the state.
The state chairman of the PDP, Amb. Desmond Akawor described the day as the start of the process of bringing on board a new team of leaders in the state.
He said the campaign council would confidently navigate the 23 local government areas of Rivers State to show the people the completion certificates of projects that Wike had delivered in those areas as proof of what the new team would continue to do for the state.
