Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket to the North will cause the
party to win the 2023 general election, he will support the decision.
The governor has meanwhile ruled out the possibility of him supporting
any All Progressives Congress presidential candidate even if the person
is of Rivers State or Southern Nigerian extraction.
Governor Wike shared this view during an interview with BBC Pigin at the
Government House, Port Harcourt.
The Rivers state governor explained that the reason why the PDP has not
taken a final decision on whether its presidential candidate for the
2023 general election should be from the North or South of the country
is because stakeholders are still strategizing the best options that
will guarantee the party’s victory in the polls.
He stated that PDP is keen to takeover the realm of power in 2023 and is
not in a hurry to give the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) a
glimpse of its strategy to wrest power from it in the next general
election.
“I am from Southern part of Nigeria. I will be happy if power returns to
the South, but if PDP will win the 2023 presidential election by zoning
the presidential ticket to the North, I will not be opposed to it”.
The governor while reacting to question on whether he will support
former President Goodluck Jonathan if the APC picks him as its
presidential candidate, declared that it was not in his nature to engage
in anti-party activity.
“If President Jonathan is given the All Progressives Congress
presidential ticket, he knows that I will not support him. I will not
engage in anti-party. Even if he is from the South, I will not endorse
him. What is paramount is my party’s interest.”
Governor Wike affirmed that if President Jonathan secures PDP
presidential ticket, Rivers State will overwhelmingly support him.
The governor declared nothing will make him defect from the PDP to the
APC which he described as cancerous political party that is devoid of
any solution to the prevailing security and economic challenges facing
the Nigerian State. According to him, the APC has ruined the Nigerian
economy and only PDP can pull Nigeria out of the brink of socio-
economic collapse.
Governor Wike revealed that the decision concerning his political future
will be taken by July 2022 when he must have completed all the projects
started by his administration.
On the relationship with the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike
Amaechi, the governor said God had used him to enthrone the minister as
governor of Rivers State in 2007.
“God used me to make Amaechi Governor of Rivers State. There is even a
video where he confessed during a church thanksgiving that after God, I
was the person that made him governor.”
The governor said he has never personally accused his predecessor of
corruption, instead a judicial commission of inquiry in the State had
indicted the minister of misappropriation of the $308 Million realised
from the sales of the Rivers State assets.
He also explained that the judicial commission also indicted the
Amaechi’s administration for wasting N54 Billion on the abandoned 1.4
kilometer monorail project. According to him, the minister had
challenged his indictment in both Federal High Court and Court of
Appeal, and lost the case.
Governor Wike said he has conscientiously made effort that developmental
projects are equitably distributed in all the 23 Local Government Areas
of the State. Furthermore, he said his administration in its urban
renewal drive is gradually restoring Port Harcourt to his Garden City
status.