By Uche Amunike
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has stated, Saturday, at the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area campaign rally organized by the Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Council, that the state will not vote for a president that will either jail or kill him, after becoming president.
While commending the governors who were elected under the aegis of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for their position on power shift to the south, he stated that Rivers State will only vote for a presidential candidate who has the unity of the country at heart.
According to him, the position of the APC governors showed that they had a clear understanding of the importance of Nigeria’s unity and that every section was entitled to the right to have the feeling of equal stake.
His words: ‘We are going to vote for the unity of Nigeria. We are going to vote for equity, fairness and justice. And that is why I salute the APC governorship who came out to say, for this country to be united, for this country to move on as one, that there is the need for power to shift,’ Nyesom Wike said.
‘We are going to vote for people who have the interest of our state. Time has passed when you will tell me that Rivers state only produces so and so number of votes. I have no problem about that. In return, what have we gotten?’
‘So, you must tell Rivers people now, if we vote for you, this is what you’ll have. Politics is you do for me, I’ll do for you. You fall for me, I’ll fall for you. If you push me, I’ll push you. If you love me, I’ll love you.’
‘From ward to ward in our local governments, they will tell you what we have decided. If you want me to survive politically, follow the way we are going.’
‘We will not support those who say when they come to power, they will kill me. We will not support those who say when they come to power, they will jail me. Will you allow them to kill me? Will you vote for those who do not want us to exist? Are you sure?‘
From the above speech made by Nyesom Wike, the presidential candidate he was referring to was not clearly stated.
Recall that Governor Wike and his G5 group, which consists of the five governors of the South East, earlier distanced themselves from the presidential election campaigns over the refusal of the party chairman, Iyorchia Ayu to resign as party National Chairman after Atiku Abubakar, reneged on his promise to run for president alongside a Christian as the Vice President, as agreed.
The G5 governors are Nyesom Wike, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Seyi Makinde of Oyo and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia.
