Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike said those hanging around the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with Atiku Abubakar were working for his failure at the poll.
Wike, who spoke during the inauguration of Rivers State House of Assembly Quarters in Port Harcourt, also distanced himself from a report that he dragged the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, to court over the primary election that produced him.
The declaration came as a relief to party faithful across the country, including the National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, who yesterday described Wike, as “a strong party man.”
The governor, who clinched the second position at the presidential primary, had toured about 30 states in the country and campaigned vigorously. Still, former vice-president Atiku Abubakar emerged as the party’s flag bearer.
It was reported that to appease Wike, Atiku and some top-ranking party members approached him and promised him the vice presidential slot, which he accepted. However, at the last minute, Atiku settled on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate, amid stiff opposition from party members and governors who had recommended Wike.
Atiku, in an interview with Arise TV, explained that he did not pick Wike because he wanted somebody he could work with “amicably” and “deliver the policies of the party and unify the country.”
Following the development, a cold war broke out between Atiku and Wike’s camp, which has continued to linger despite several interventions by party stalwarts, including members of the party’s Board of Trustees.
The crisis took a new dimension within the week when the governor invited All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains to the state to commission projects executed by his administration.
At the commissioning of the waterlines flyover by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State last Monday, Wike vowed to use Rivers vote against anyone who belittles the State, thereby fuelling speculations that he might defect from the party.
Wike said: “If you say Rivers State does not matter, Rivers State will tell you that you don’t also matter at the appropriate time. If you don’t like us, we will not like you. If you like us, we will like you. Nobody will use our votes without a purpose. Our votes will matter and Rivers State must benefit from anybody that we are going to support.”
However, the governor during the commissioning of the new House of Assembly complex by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday, declared that he had no intention to dump the PDP.
He also denied suing the presidential candidate of the party as reported in the media, describing it as the handiwork of favour seekers surrounding Atiku in their bid to tarnish his reputation.
His words: “People have called me throughout this morning and said all kinds of things that I went to court against Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. I want to say categorically if I have a reason for going to court, I will go to court, but I didn’t go to court.
“Yesterday too, they said I removed all PDP flags at Rivers State Government House. But I just have to say these things for Nigerians to know that I have kept quiet, and being busy delivering dividends of democracy for my party to win election in Rivers State.
“But I want to tell the candidate, it is the candidate’s group that are doing all these things. Let the world hear; they are the ones plotting all these things, thinking that they will spoil my name. You can not!”
He explained that if he wanted to institute a legal action against the outcome of the PDP presidential primary, he would have done that within two weeks after the primary.
He added: “I didn’t go to court; I have no reason to go to court. But those of you who are plotting and saying that I went to court instead, for you to have come out now to say Wike went to court, I say shame on you. Shame will be on all of you.
“I have told the candidate; you will win or lose this election because of people around you. Anybody who knows me know too well that if I was going to court, I would have gone to court within two weeks after the primary because it is a pre-election matter and after two weeks, you can’t go to court.
“The legal adviser of the party called me and I told me that he knows that there is mischief going on. But that he knows me very well; if I’m going to court, it is not those kinds of lawyers that I would have used and I don’t even know the lawyers.”
The governor noted that a bigger challenge lay ahead, specifically how to win the 2023 general election for the PDP.
“This concern should be the focus of all true lovers of PDP who want electoral victory. You are supposed to be talking about how you will win election. All these rent seekers around him are not doing him any favour; instead, they are trying to prevent him from winning the election. But if that is what they wish, I wish them good luck.
“You see that I am not talking. I am doing my work; so leave me to do my work. Those who concoct ideas every day, social media cannot win the election for you.
“Election is about the people and by the people. Let those in Abuja with you (Atiku) tell them to go home and campaign for you to win election. Leave Wike alone; enough is enough.”
He recalled that during the 2019 general election, the same people who now claim to love the PDP more in the South-South had sabotaged the party’s winning chances in the region.
He lamented that instead of them, particularly the governors, plotting how to win the 2023 election, they were wasting their time plotting accusations that they would level against him.
“When I see people talking about PDP today, I say to myself, ‘What is going on in this world. In the South-South, they all betrayed us. President Muhammadu Buhari wouldn’t have won the 2019 election because he won’t have had the spread.
“But all the states in the South-South made Buhari have 25 per cent. It was only Rivers State that did not give Buhari 25 per cent; I am challenging anybody on it.”
Wike stated that the actions of those who gave President Buhari the winning margin in 2019 invariably frustrated the chances of the PDP candidate at the time.
He recalled how he had urged Alhaji Atiku to carefully examine the governors around him and understand why they had worked against his victory in 2019.
