2023: Await Directive on Presidential Poll; Wike Tells Rivers PDP

There appears great suspense in the Rivers State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), over the presidential candidate Governor Nyesom Wike is likely to endorse for next year’s poll.

On Tuesday, the governor, who urged party faithful and supporters to vote for PDP governorship and parliamentary candidates in the state, advised them to wait for his decision on the presidential candidate to adopt.

Wike, who reflected on preparation for 2023 at the inauguration of the Rukpouku-I30-Ogbodo-Igwuruta link Road, said talks were still ongoing on the presidential flag bearer to pitch a tent with.

The Rivers Governor and his colleagues in the G5, also known as the Integrity Group – Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) – are locked in a protracted feud with the party leadership over the refusal of the National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, to resign, contrary to his promise to quit, if the candidate was picked from the North.

They have insisted that Ayu’s resignation is a condition for supporting Atiku in next year’s election.

Sources said the main opposition party is worried by its unsuccessful attempts at pacifying the G5, particularly its arrowhead, Wike, whose Rivers State usually voted massively for PDP in previous polls.

Recently, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, (NNPP), presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, said no presidential candidate can hope to clinch the presidency without winning huge votes from Rivers, Kano and Lagos, which the PDP has not been able to penetrate.

At the inauguration of the road in Rukpuoku, Wike urged the people to vote for the governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates.

He refrained from campaigning for Atiku.

The governor said: “We have started doing Eneka internal roads, phases one and two – Eneka to Igbo Etche. We are doing the SAARs Road, going straight to Rikpogbodu. Remember from Eledo down to Rikpogbodu and Obirikwere road, I was the one who did it. I have now done Rumuakwu – Eneka road; Rumuakwu – Igwuruta link road.

So, you are the ones owing us now. You did first for us and we retaliated by doing for you. Now, we have come to ask you again to come and do for us. If you do it for us, it means we will come and do it for you again.

“You will vote for our Governor, our senatorial candidates, House of Representatives candidates and Assembly candidates. Then, the other one, I will come and tell you where you will vote. Don’t worry, calm down.

“These ones I have mentioned now make sure you come and vote for them. Very soon, we will meet at our houses and take a decision about where we are going. We are still talking.”

Wike maintained that he was concerned only about the Rivers PDP and its candidates, saying: “It is carry go for them.”

However, PDP campaign spokesman Charles Aniagwu said Wike cannot solely decide who Rivers people should vote for.

Wike boasted that candidates of other parties had no chance in Rivers, saying that they were only in the race for formality.

He said: “These other people know there is no way they can win in Rivers. They are only making noise to go collect money from people so that at the end of the day they will say they were rigged out.

“Who and who are following you? Which local government would you win and who are those there that will make you win elections? There are opinion leaders that are influencers of people. You must vote for a party that has brought dividends of democracy.

“Governance is all about the happiness of the people. Some people say they were governors for eight years. They didn’t do anything. So, we have done our part.”

‘No southerner can defend injustice in PDP’

Also, in a statement, the Rivers State PDP Campaign Council condemned the lopsided leadership at the national level, saying no right-thinking party member from the South can defend the injustice and marginalisation.

“How fair has the PDP become and how national is the PDP today ahead of the 2023 election?” Chairman of the Publicity and Communications Committee of the council, Ogbonna Nwuke, queried in Port Harcourt.

Nwuke said even those campaigning for Atiku, including his Rivers spokesman, Dr. Leloonu Nwibubase, could not defend the injustice.

Nwuke, a former member of the House of Representatives, said the party should embrace the G-5, correct the imbalance and approach the poll as a united family.

He said the only condition for peace tabled before the party by the G-5 was the resignation of Ayu to pave the way for a Southern chairman in line with the constitution of the PDP.

He said the condition is fair, just and equitable.

Nwuke said the entire state structure of the party in Rivers was backing the G-5, stressing that it was unacceptable for the party to claim that the imbalance would be corrected after the election.

On whether the G-5 would still work for Atiku if Ayu resigned, Nwuke said that was the only condition.

He said: “My question for this Atiku campaign spokesperson in Rivers is if truly he is a Rivers person if truly he is a Southerner, can he in all conscience defend what is happening in his party, which excludes the South?

“You have taken the ticket and we agreed. We are saying give us this one, which will create a sense of balance in the eyes of party men.

“We are saying that in the constitution of the party, Article Seven says power must rotate. We are noting the fact that there was a conversation that preceded Atiku’s victory that if a Northerner wins, Ayu will step aside.

“The G-5 has maintained their integrity and, they have been able to live up to their promises. They told you they will not leave the PDP. They have kept their promise not to leave the PDP. They have remained in the PDP and they are working for PDP candidates in their various states.

“The party should also fulfil the only condition that the Integrity Group has asked for and if they fulfil the condition and the G5, known for their integrity, does not respond, then, this country has something to ask them. What is critical is that that condition is on the table; satisfy this thing.”

Nwuke added: “You won the primary. You have the right to choose your running mate. Nobody is quarrelling with that. The G-5 is saying that in the interest of equity, fairness, justice, the balance of power and objectivity, it is wrong for the North to hold on to the presidential candidate and hold onto the chairmanship of the party.

“The question to ask is: what will the South be voting for when the chairmanship of the party is in the North and when the Presidency is in the North? The North even has all the spokespersons. So, the point we are making is, it is something unfair, something that must be addressed going forward.

“If a man makes a promise and doesn’t keep it, will he keep it after the election is fought and won? Even, Ayu has said that he was elected for four years and was not going to give it up, contrary to what the Atiku people are saying.

“Let me talk about delivering Atiku. Is it Ayu in Benue that will deliver or is it Ortom in Benue that should deliver him? Ayu does not have what it takes to deliver a candidate. So, we will leave that to the Atiku group.

“There’s this feeling that some people are born to rule, and it is time to let them know that some people are born to resist and we are resisting reasonably within the party.”

‘Wike can’t solely decide for Rivers’

The Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation said Wike must possess
superpowers for him to solely decide who Rivers people should vote for or who not to vote for.

Aniagwu said Wike must realise that by campaigning for PDP candidates in Rivers, he is invariably campaigning for the PDP and Atiku.

He said the people have been voting for PDP since 1999, adding that they will still vote for all PDP candidates in 2023, including Atiku.

Also reacting, a member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) reminded Wike of his assertion when he visited Edo State last May to campaign for the PDP presidential ticket.

The BoT member who spoke under a condition of anonymity recalled what the Rivers Governor told journalists when they asked him why he did not visit the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, during his visit.

“Governor Wike told the journalists that votes are not warehoused in the Edo State Governor House and that the votes are with the people on the streets.

“So by the same token, Governor Wike must also realise that the votes in Rivers are not warehoused in the Rivers State Government House and that they are with the people on the streets.”