Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has flayed some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors in the South for reneging on the agreement that the presidency should return to the region.
He said the governors ganged up with some vested interest groups to derail the quest of southern Nigeria to produce the next president of Nigeria.
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Wike spoke Monday at a grand reception organised by the Rivers people in Port Harcourt to welcome him back from Abuja after the PDP presidential primary, according to a statement by his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri.
He said: “I contested in an election (primary) based on the principle and agreement with all Southern governors and leaders of the South that presidency should go to the South this period.
“We have done our part. We never betrayed anybody because it is not in our blood to betray. But it is a shame to those people, some of the governors from the South, they are the people that were used to sabotage our course.”
He said some governors from the South chose their inordinate ambitions over the collective interest of the people they claimed to represent.
He said: “Look at a region ganged up, then you, your own region cannot gang up. You became tools to be used against the interest of your people, and you think you have won, you have lost.
“You will continue to be perpetual slaves. Rivers people, you don’t need to bother yourselves. PDP needs us. If they say they don’t need us, they should wait.”
He said: “The winner (of the ticket) also saw it. They underrated us but now they will not underrate us again. We have all it takes to do whatever we want to do.
“It is a matter of you being firm, it is a matter of you being hopeful. There is nobody that is born greater than us in this country, therefore, we cannot answer second-class citizens. We can’t.”
Meanwhile, PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, met with Wike and former Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki separately in Abuja.
The former vice president polled 371 votes to defeat other aspirants, including Wike, who got 237 votes at the presidential primary held at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, on Saturday.
According to Atiku’s spokesman, Paul Ibe, the meeting was part of the promise to reach out to all the party stakeholders after the primary.
Ibe told Daily Trust that the visit showed, “The PDP flagbearer is already working his talk”.
He said: “You know in his acceptance speech, His Excellency said he would begin the process of making sure that the PDP emerged a united front and by extension Nigeria. The process has to start from the PDP; that is an indication to clearly show that he was working his talk.
“It is also part of his commitment to bring everyone on board. I can’t really tell you what they discussed but it is towards confidence building.”
The meeting was attended by many party chieftains including a former Ekiti State governor and presidential aspirant, Ayodele Fayose.
Meanwhile, the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) has said it is ready to support Atiku in picking an acceptable running mate from the South.
The chairman of the board, Senator Walid Jibril, stated this in a chat with Daily Trust yesterday.
He promised that if elected, Atiku would be a Nigerian president and not a tribal president.
He urged all party members to unite and support all PDP candidates for all positions.
