2023 Presidential election: Wike berates Northern ‘gang-up’
…Slams southern Governors for not supporting one of theirs
By Abimbola Abatta
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has berated what he described as a Northern ‘gang-up’ by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) aimed at frustrating efforts to produce a Southern presidential candidate.
This is even as he slammed some of his southern colleagues, calling them betrayers as he alleged that they worked against the agreement that the presidency should return to the South.
According to him, the governors of the party ganged up with some vested interest groups to derail the quest of the south to produce the next President.
Insisting that he did not betray the agreement, Wike said it was disheartening that some Governors from the South chose their inordinate ambitions over the collective interest of the people they claimed to represent.
In his words: “Look at a region that ganged up, then you, your own region cannot gang up. You became tools to be used against the interest of your people, and you think you have won, you have lost.
“You will continue to be perpetual slaves. Rivers people you don’t need to bother yourselves. PDP needs us. If they say they don’t need us, they should wait.”
Wike explained that he was propelled into the race to offer service and advance the interest of Nigeria.
He said he was confronted by a few individuals, who wanted somebody they would control and he declined to be such a puppet.
According to him, “The winner (of the ticket) also saw it. They underrated us but now they will not underrate us again. We have all it takes to do whatever we want to do. It is a matter of you being firm, it is a matter of you being hopeful.
“There is nobody that is born greater than us in this country, therefore, we cannot answer second-class citizens. We can’t.
“We just used this one to tell them that enough is enough. We made them not to sleep. We made them not to eat. We made all of them from wherever they said they come from to know that there is somebody who can take them on.”
He went further to state thay Nigeria does not belong to one particular zone, adding that: “if people are afraid of talking, it is their business. I cannot be a second class citizen in my country.
“Some of them, their in-laws are Governors in the ruling party but they want to interfere in what happens in PDP. Some of them their brothers are Governors in the ruling party and they want to interfere in PDP.”
However, he said owing to his pledge to support whoever emerged as the candidate during the primaries, “Rivers would work to deliver PDP and all its candidates in the 2023 general elections.”
Nigerian NewsDirect reports that Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who was previously one of the party’s presidential aspirants had on Saturday night announced his withdrawal from the race.
He noted that his decision arose from his belief that the PDP needs to be united to rescue Nigeria from the shackles of poverty and insecurity.
Tambuwal made the announcement barely a few minutes to the commencement of voting at the Special National Convention of the party.
The Sokoto State Governor was the fourth aspirant to withdraw from the race after former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra, Dr Nwachukwu Anakwenze and Mr Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.
He said, “Having consulted widely in all six zones across the country with leaders, I have come to the conclusion and conviction that we need to make sacrifice as leaders.”
Following his withdrawal from the race, he asked his supporters to vote for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who eventually emerged as the party’s presidential candidate for 2023 elections.
Political analysts have opined that Tambuwal’s withdrawal from the race was a major contributory factor to the victory of the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Out of the 767 votes cast by the national delegates accredited for the poll, Abubakar won with a total of 371 votes followed bu while Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, who polled 237 votes.
In a similar development, Former Anambra State Governor, and former presidential aspirant under the platform of the PDP Peter Obi, had last week resigned from the party and stepped down from the race.
Obi, who was considered as one of the party’s top contenders from the Southern region, had exited the presidential race less than three days to the party’s presidential primary.
Citing reasons for his decision, he said: “Unfortunately, recent developments within our party makes it impossible for me to continue participating and making constructive contributions.”
Reacting to the development, Nyesom Wike said he was not surprised by the decision of the former governor.
