Governor Wike Blows Hot, Vows Not To Leave PDP, But Fight Injustice
Rivers State Governor, Mr Nyesom Wike has said he is not willing to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) no matter the situation rocking the unity of the party.
The governor made this disclosure at a Rivers PDP stakeholders meeting held in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
Wike, who said he would narrate his own side of the story regarding the crisis in the party on Friday, however said that he was interested in preserving the sanity of the party and will stay back to fight for the enthronement of unity, inclusivity, equity and peace in the PDP.
In his words: “I have always told people, if anybody is thinking we will leave PDP, foul. We will do the fight in the party. We are not like them, when in 2014 they walked out from Eagle Square. They’ve forgoten. They walked out and joined APC. Is it not correct?
“Did they remain to fight inside the party? But we remained, they ran away. Now, there is a fight in the party, we will not run. We will fight it in this party. Those who run away from fight are weak people. We will not. So everybody should know this is the state where we are. So that nobody tells you all kind of stories.”
The governor continued that the party's constitution clearly states that elective and party offices must be zoned and that should be respected.
He also wondered why former PDP Board of Trustee (BOT) Chairman would be pressured to resign and while the national chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu does not do the same in that regard.
“You have taken presidential candidate, you have taken party chairman, you have also taken the D.G (director general) of campaign. We are talking about party politics. Decisions are made by the presidential candidate, chairman of party and the D.G of campaign.
“They are telling you they told the chairman of the BOT to resign. So you know there is a problem. You said he should go and resign. You can pressure him to resign when his tenure hasn’t come to an end. But you cannot put pressure on the chairman to resign. You think at our level you will deceive us. You’ll tell us stories,” he said.
The governor also recalled how in 2015 the federal government used the military to invade Rivers State, interfered with and even annulled elections, but were resisted, just as he made sure senatorial results for Rivers East were announced in victory for Senator George Sekibo and that of Rivers West, that produced Senator Betty Apiafi.
Regretting that despite the risk taken to deliver them, same people are now in Abuja, allegedly plotting against him, Wike said they won’t succeed because God has blessed him.
He debunked promising anyone Rivers PDP governorship ticket despite the pressure some leaders mounted on him and attempts to divide the State House of Assembly, adding that though he didn’t clinch the PDP presidential ticket, he actually gave a good account of himself at the primary.
He also revealed plan to unveil Rivers State PDP campaign team next week with the campaign pattern adopted based on local government area peculiarity, emphasising that all PDP candidates in the State will be returned elected by Rivers people who are satisfied with the performance of his administration.
“We will take all. We are taking all because Rivers people are happy with what we have done in this state. We have not only provided infrastructure, we have also defended the interest of Rivers State”, he said.