“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.”
These were the exact words with which a palpably angry Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, came down heavily on his colleagues from the South East, for betraying an agreement to ensure that the presidency returned to their area in 2023.
Describing some of his colleagues as betrayers, he accused them of working against the agreement that the presidency should return to the South, saying some of them ganged up with some vested interest groups to derail the arrangement agreed upon within the party.
Wike, who spoke after being treated to a grand reception by PDP leaders and members after the primary election, called the action of his colleagues, shameful, saying: “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. It is disheartening that some Governors from the South chose their inordinate ambitions over the collective interest of the people they claimed to represent.
“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.
“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.
“We just used this one to tell them that enough is enough. We made them not to sleep. We made them not to eat. We made all of them from wherever they said they come from to know that there is somebody who can take them on. This country does not belong to one particular zone. If people are afraid of talking it is their business. I cannot be a second class citizen in my country.”
“Some of them, their in-laws are Governors in the ruling party but they want to interfere in what happens in PDP. Some of them their brothers are Governors in the ruling party and they want to interfere in PDP”
The governor, however pledged to honour his obligation to the party, saying in fulfillment of his promise to work for its success, he would work for not only Atiku in the presidential election, but in all the contests the PDP would go into.
