Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Thursday warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will lose in the coming 2023 general elections if the party shuns the votes from his state.
The governor stated this during the flag-off of the 11th flyover project, which was performed by a former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, at the Rumuola- Ikwerre Road-Rumuokwuta Roundabout in the Obio Akpor Local Government Area of the state.
He stressed that Rivers State is too strategic politically to be ignored by any serious- minded politician who wants to win election.
This was contained in a statement issued by the media aide to the governor, Kelvin Ebiri.
Wike boasted he knew how to win elections and urged others to “show that you have what it takes for the candidate to win election.”
The rift between Atiku and Wike started after the governor’s ambition of becoming the party’s vice-presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections failed following the emergence of the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as Atiku’s running mate.
A reconciliation panel set up to resolve the crisis between Wike and Atiku had scheduled to meet in Abuja on Friday (today) but the governor’s camp is insisting on the resignation of the PDP chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, a condition that the Atiku loyalists rejected.
It is uncertain the meeting would hold as the two camps have also not agreed on the venue.
However, speaking in Port Harcourt on Thursday, Wike claimed more politicians in the state are renouncing their membership of other political parties and joining the PDP in droves.
He said the new entrants are doing so because they were delighted at the ongoing infrastructural development by his administration and they believed the PDP was a better party to associate with.
Wike said, “We have collapsed every other party. Every day people from All Progressives Congress are joining our party. We are here doing that and some people are in Abuja; ask them how many persons have they brought to the party.”
In a subtle attack on his adversaries, he said, “It’s not to say ‘I’m supporting our candidate.’ How many people have you brought to help your candidate? We are here every day bringing people to join our party and you are there following your candidate from Abuja to Adamawa. Is it there you’ll win the votes? Come back home.”
He added that, “I believe that they must know us here because we have what it takes to deliver. They must come and know us. I’m not going to find anybody.
“You must come here. You can’t take six hundred and something thousand votes away from my local government; you can’t take 3.2 million votes from my state just like that.’’
He emphasised that gone are the days when supporters and the electorate offer their votes for nothing.
