He said: “Everybody believed that whatever the national chairman was doing was dictated by Wike and must have the backing of Wike. I believe when you support somebody, support him to succeed.
The governor accused some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) particularly, the National Organising Secretary, Col. Austin Akobundu, of stirring crisis in the party because of his governorship ambition.
He warned that the PDP should be wary of agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC), bent on causing division and destabilising the party.
The governor said that he did not have problems with the former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar and was not aware if Atiku wanted to contest the presidency in 2023 because PDP has not yet zoned the presidency.
Wike who spoke as a guest on a television programme in Port Harcourt said the resolution of the internal crisis rocking the PDP allayed his initial fear of possible implosion of the party.
The governor in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Media, Kelvin Ebiri, explained that it was not uncommon for a political party to experience internal squabble in view of the forthcoming poll and varying interests, but commended PDP governors for coming together to speak with one voice to end the differences.
He said: “I use to be afraid of possibility of an implosion and that could have been the end of the party. But what I saw on Monday gave me a lot of confidence for the first time. I have never seen that happen, the way the governors came together and spoke in a convivial manner with no dissenting view. I was impressed.”
Wike, who accused the Federal Government of emasculating states by usurping their constitutional rights and powers, revealed that the Federal Inland Revenue had surreptitiously written to the National Assembly to amend the Constitution and make collection of VAT exclusive to the Federal government.
He said: “The Federal Inland Revenue wrote a letter to the National Assembly to amend the constitution to make VAT to be in the exclusive list. So, we intercepted that letter and brought it to court because they know that under the law, it is not within their powers to collect these taxes.
The governor revealed that he had already sent a bill to the Rivers State Assembly to empower the state government to collect VAT and other related taxes in the state.