The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, says he will make his preferred presidential candidate known in January 2023.
Since losing out in the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), there has been a crisis in the party over calls for Iyorchia Ayu to step down from his position as national chairman of the party.
The calls, championed by Wike and his allies, are based on the grounds that the PDP presidential candidate and national chairman cannot be from the same region.
Amid the crisis, some PDP stakeholders, including five PDP governors — Wike, Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu — formed the Integrity Group, dubbed G5.
The governors have also exempted themselves from the campaign of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP, ahead of the 2023 general election.
Speaking on Thursday at the inauguration of a flyover in Obi-Akpor LGA, Wike said he will mobilise people “from state to state” for his preferred candidate.
“From January next year, I will campaign to my people who they will vote for. So, all of you who have been suspects and have been saying all kinds of things and abusing me, wait. January has come,” he said.
“Not only will I tell them where they will vote, but I will also move from state to state and [tell them] why they should vote for people I think they should vote for.
“Nothing will happen. So, all of you appearing on television [to] abuse me, don’t waste your saliva again. January will come. All those of you that tell people you have 40 shoes and 50 wristwatches, the time has come to convert those watches to votes.
“Those of you who haven’t been stable, moving from one political party to another — you move from PDP to here, you move from here back to PDP; those of you who in 2015 said if they vote for PDP, they are voting for the insurgency, corruption — wait.
“All of us will reply to tell Nigeria the things you said, how far are they now? Is it the same PDP or a new PDP?”
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