Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike says he will make his
preferred presidential candidate known in January 2023.
The governor, who stated this on Thursday, said he will also
campaign for his adopted candidate nationwide.
“From January next year, I will campaign to my people whom
they will vote for,” Wike said when he commissioned the tenth flyover by his
administration in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers.
“So, all of you who have been in suspense, who have been
saying all kinds of things, abusing me, wait. January is here.
“Not only will I tell them (my people) whom to vote, I will
move from state to state (for campaigns) and why they should vote for the
person, nothing will happen,” he said.
Following the PDP presidential primary in May where he lost
out, Wike has been at loggerheads with Atiku Abubakar over the chairmanship of
Iyorchia Ayu.
After the presidential primary, Atiku, a former Vice
President, stung Wike when he passed over his closest rival at the primary and
chose Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate.
Wike, with four other PDP governors known as the G5 or the
Integrity Group, have insisted that
Benue-born Ayu must step down for a southerner as a precondition to support the
2023 ambition of Atiku.
Earlier in December, the Director General of Atiku’s
Campaign, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State visited one of Wike’s ally
and a G5 member, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State in a move to resolve the
crisis but no success was achieved.
Later the same day, Atiku, on Channels Television’s The
People’s Townhall, said he has met Wike five times to resolve the issue but
there is no end in sight. Ortom and Wike subsequently shunned Atiku who was in
Benue earlier this month for campaigns.
Last month, Wike promised logistics support for the
campaigns of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi;
and his New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) counterpart, Rabiu Kwankwaso. Wike
has also of late hobnobbed with All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwarts like
Adams Oshiomhole and Governors Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos),
and Ben Ayade (Cross River).
While Wike and his allies have not been seen to campaign for
Atiku, it is not clear whether they will support Obi, Kwankwaso or APC’s Bola Tinubu
in the contest for Aso Rock’s top job.
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