Governor Wike made the clarification when he appeared as a Guest on
Arise Television.
The governor said speculations linking him to presidential ambition are
distractions.
“Right now, I am focusing on delivering the dividends of democracy to
the people of Rivers state.
“Recall that in 2018 and 2019 when I was supporting my friend Aminu
Waziri Tambulwal, it was speculated in the media that I was going to
run with him. That was my first tenure and I have not even completed it
and they wanted me to give that away.
“To clear every speculation, let me state that I am not going to run for
the office of the president of Nigeria for now. I am concentrating on
developing Rivers state. I am not a party to anybody saying that the
problems in PDP are about 2023.
“That can be the problem in APC because it is the ruling party. This the
last tenure of Mr. president and he is going, so people are hustling to
take over from him within his party. PDP has nothing to do with that
because the way it is now, we are taking over from nothing.
“Now, I just started my second tenure and you’re talking about the
presidency. When that enters anybody’s head then that person will not be
able to provide the dividends of democracy to the people. And that is
the problem you see in APC because everybody is thinking of taking over
from the President instead of concentrating to do their work.
“They don’t even know the minds of Nigerians. But because of the kind of
politics we have, people feel since Mr. President is leaving, they do
not want his party to lose out. How will someone in an opposition party
begin to contemplate of running for the presidency when I still have
time to provide things for my state,” he said.
Commenting on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s aspiring to contest
for the presidency again, governor Wike said it is a fundamental right
that cannot be denied.
He, however, said it is too early to determine who will fly the
presidential flag of PDP because the focus is on how to get the party
more organized in order to secure more political seats.
“I am not interested in who wants to run for now. I am more interested
that PDP should become more organized. Let us get more political seats.
When the time comes, we will all sit down as a party to decide on who
will fly the flag.
“Again, let me say, on whether I will support former governor of Rivers
State, Chibuike Amaechi if he decides to contest for the presidency as
you have asked. I am a party person, so if he is running on the
platform of PDP for presidency why won’t I support him. I cannot do
anti-party at this level to support a non-PDP candidate,” he said.
On zoning of the PDP presidential ticket to the north, Governor Wike
said the national executive council of the party has not taken a final
decision.
“We will come together to resolve issues because we are a family.
Outsiders can not do things that will divide us. What we are interested
in now is how we can remain united to take over power from APC that has
failed Nigeria.
“APC should not be allowed to continue to keep the country in its
present calamitous state. We want to take over to move Nigeria
forward”, he added.