Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has claimed that some PDP Governors teamed up with vested interest organizations to sabotage southern Nigeria’s bid to produce the country’s next president.
He claimed that the governors of southern Nigeria had agreed that the presidency should be brought to the region and that he would not betray that arrangement.
Wike explained himself during a magnificent celebration hosted by the Rivers people in Port Harcourt on Monday to welcome him back from Abuja following the PDP presidential primary.
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt by his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri, Wike described as shameful, the inability of some of those who were part of the agreement to stick to the agreement when it mattered.
The Rivers State Governor accused them of selling out and sabotaging collective efforts to clinch the PDP presidential nomination for the South for him.
Governor Wike said it was distressing that certain governors in the South could abandon the collective interests of the people they claimed to represent due to their excessive ambition.
The governor explained that he was propelled into the race to offer service and advance the interest of Nigeria, adding that in the process, he was confronted by a few individuals who wanted somebody they would control and he declined to be such a puppet.
Part of the statement read: “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”
“Look at a region ganged up, then you, your 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. The 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 citizen. We can’t”
“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.”
This article was originally published on Nigeria News