Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers State, has reiterated his decision not to join the All Progressives Congress, despite the party’s position that the presidency should be zoned to the south.
The governor maintained that he remained an unrepentant member of the Peoples Democratic Party, calling the notion that he would defect to the APC speculative.
These were made public by Governor Wike on Monday at the 114th general meeting of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, which was held in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
He told the council before the presidential election on Saturday that he would only vote for the candidate who could ensure the nation’s unity.
“I am not a member of the APC, and I will not be,” Wike declared. However, they have convinced me that they are our nation’s heroes.
“The governors came out to say, look, the presidency should go to the south for this country’s unity.
The governors of the APC said that because of the state of the country, they want unity, and the presidency should go to the south. They could have said no, it didn’t matter. We are the number, and we are governors. We can still assert that it ought to remain in its proper location. They did not, however.
They stated, “We want everyone to be together, the way we see this country.”
“I have the population, so you will continue to dominate, let no one say. You need peace to rule, and you can’t govern without peace.
The governor stated, when asked about the PDP crisis, that Rivers State had supported the party throughout the administrations of former Governor Peter Odili and his successor.
As a result, he insisted that it was wrong for a portion of the nation to deny others the opportunity to lead the country’s affairs.
We are all Nigerians who desire the nation’s unity. We wish for Nigeria to advance as a united nation.
Rivers State has always supported a single Nigeria, and we will continue to do so. However, by doing so, we uphold our values of fairness, justice, and equity.
“I will vote for the nation’s unity as governor of this state. Anything that will unite Nigeria will get my vote.
I will not back anything that will make Nigeria more divided. Because of this, the principle of “live and let’s live” became necessary.
Things are not going to be good if only one person lives. Nigeria, not the party, is the focus. He stated, “I am an unrepentant member of the People’s Democratic Party who, in fact, built this party when people ran away.”
He explained that his belief in the country’s unity was one of the reasons he had been one of the arrowheads of those pushing for inclusivity in the PDP.
He says that Rivers, a strategic state, cannot be made to play second fiddle to other states in the country.
Even though Wike did not support traditional rulers participating in politics, he urged them to back the PDP governorship candidate, Sir Siminialayi Fubara, whom he formally presented to the council, in order to maintain his administration’s progress in the development sector since 2015.
I will be a former governor in a few months. But first, significantly. There won’t be a crisis during my transition. Don’t make the mistake of voting for someone else. You intend to distort everything we have done, which will cause our state to regress. We should permit progression.”
His Majesty, King Dandeson Jaja, Jeki V, Amanyanabo of Opobo, Chairman of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, thanked the governor for the respect he had shown the council since taking office.