Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said that he would start campaigning for his preferred presidential candidate in January.
Since losing out in the presidential primary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), there had been a crisis in the Party over his calls for Dr. Iyorchia Ayu to step down from his position as National Chairman of the Party.
The calls, championed by Wike and his allies, were based on the grounds that the PDP presidential candidate and national chairman could be from the same region of the country.
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Amid the crisis, some PDP stakeholders, including five PDP governors — Governor Wike, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State formed the Integrity Group, dubbed the ‘G5’.
The governors have also exempted themselves from the campaign of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP, ahead of the 2023 general election.
Speaking, on Thursday, at the inauguration of a flyover in Obi-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Governor Wike said he would mobilise people “from state to state” for his preferred candidate from January.
Said he, “From January next year, I will campaign to my people who they will vote for. So, all of you who have been suspects and have been saying all kinds of things and abusing me, wait. January has come,” he said.
“Not only will I tell them where they will vote, I will also move from state to state and [tell them] why they should vote for people I think they should vote for.
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“Nothing will happen. So, all of you appearing on television [to] abuse me, don’t waste your saliva again. January will come. All those of you that tell people you have 40 shoes and 50 wristwatches, the time has come to convert those watches to votes.
“Those of you who haven’t been stable, moving from one political party to another — you move from PDP to here, you move from here back to PDP; those of you, who in 2015, you said if they vote for PDP, they are voting for insurgency, corruption — wait.
“All of us will reply to tell Nigeria the things you said, how far are they now? Is it the same PDP or a new PDP?”
