That Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is working fully for the success of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to become the next president is no more in doubt, but the governor has vowed never to join Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC).
Wike said on Monday, February 20, 2023, that he was only impressed with the stand of the northern APC governors that power must shift to the south.
Wike thus described as speculative the talks that he was joining the APC, a party whose internal crisis he had once described as ‘cancer’ compared to what he called ‘malaria’ that he said the PDP was suffering from at that point.
Wike spoke at the 114th quarterly general meeting of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers in Port Harcourt, where he formally informed the council ahead of Saturday ‘s presidential election that he would be voting for only the candidate that can guarantee the unity of the country.
Many saw the meeting as an avenue to direct the monarchs where they and their people should vote.
Wike said: “I am not a member of APC and I will not be. But, they have made me to recognise that they are the heroes of this country. The governors came out to say look, for the unity of this country, presidency should go to the south. The governors of APC said the way the county is, they want the unity of this country and therefore, the presidency should go to the south.
“They could have as well said no, it doesn’t matter. As governors we have the number. We can still say it should remain where it should remain. But they didn’t do that. They said the way we are seeing this country we want everybody to be together.
“Let no one say because I have the population, therefore, you will continue to dominate. In dominating you need peace, and without peace you cannot govern.”
Speaking on the crisis in PDP, the governor said that Rivers State has helped to sustain PDP right from the era of former governor, Peter Odili, down to his administration.
He therefore, insisted that it is absolutely wrong for a section of the country to deny other people the opportunity to participate in presiding over the affairs of the nation.
His critics however, wonder why he does not complete the equity logic by moving for power to shift to the only zone in the south yet to produce a president in a rotational system.
Instead, he said: “We are all Nigerians and we want the unity of this country. We want Nigeria to move forward as a united country. Rivers State has always been in support of one Nigeria and we’ll continue to support one Nigeria. But in doing that, we believe in equity, we believe in justice, we believe in fairness.”
He explained that the reason why he has been one of the arrowheads of those agitating inclusivity in PDP, is because of his belief in the unity of the country. According to him, a strategic state like Rivers, cannot be relegated to play second fiddle in the country.
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Wike said though he does not encourage traditional rulers’ involvement in politics, he however, urged them to support the PDP governorship candidate, Siminialayi Fubara, who he formally presented to the council, for the continuity of the developmental stride recorded by his administration since 2015.
Probably to back his request, he offered to give each monarch a brand new vehicle.
“In the next few months, I will be former (governor). But former in a big way. My transition will be smooth, there will be no crisis. Don’t make mistake to go and vote for another person. You want to distort everything we have done, and then our state will go backward. Let’s allow continuity,” he said.
The chairman of the Rivers State council of traditional rulers, His majesty king, Dandeson Douglas Jaja, Jeki V, Amanyanabo of Opobo, informed the governor that members of the Council, in a representative meeting, had resolved to support any governorship candidate of his choice that would carry on with the developmental blueprint of the state as laid down by him.
