Nobody Can Undermine Rivers In Quest For Nigeria’s Presidency – Wike

Nyesom Wike, the Governor of Rivers State, has stated that anyone seeking to become President of Nigeria must secure votes in Rivers, which must be combined with votes from Kano or Lagos, in order to win.

Wike stated that such a pivotal role establishes Rivers State’s significance in the country’s political scheme, adding that no one would be permitted to undermine it.

He made the statement at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Local Government Election Campaign Grand Finale held yesterday in Ulakwo, Etche Local Government Region.

The governor said: “I keep telling the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that no state has given more votes to the party than Rivers.

“And it is only in Rivers, in the whole of South-South, that the All Progressives Congress (APC) didn’t get 25 percent votes in 2019 general election. We thought them a lesson.

“In Nigeria, nobody wins the presidency, if you didn’t win either Rivers and Lagos or Kano and Lagos together. Rivers is not a state anybody can joke with. Some states went to negotiate with them. Rivers didn’t do it.”

Read Also: BREAKING: Buhari Arrives Nigeria

Governor Wike took a swipe at Senator Andrew Uchendu for his uncanny comments in the media and wondered what courage he has to talk against the PDP administration that is ending the suffering he inflicted on his people.

He noted: “I was watching Arise Television the other day, and I heard Senator Andrew Uchendu and the Chief Medical Director of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. The CMD said I asked him to indict the former governor. I don’t know that he has such judicial power. I don’t also know his basis.

“He (CMD) set up a target. The man was lobbying to be a Commissioner where our former party chairman comes from without even doing due consultation. Because I didn’t give him commissioner, he ran and started to abuse me”.

The governor said it was regrettable that Senator Andrew Uchendu spent several years in the National Assembly and close to the former administration in the State, but couldn’t fix the road leading to his village.

“I am going there to flag off the road and to tell his (Uchendu) community, see what your son couldn’t give you. He (Uchendu) has collected the contract from NDDC every year, he abandoned it. I am going to shame him by doing that road”.

Speaking further, Governor Wike said the fortunes of Etche people have improved under the PDP-led administration in the state.

According to him, under his administration, Etche sons have been appointed as Vice-Chancellor of the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and also as a judge.

He said his administration has established a campus of the River State University in Etche and awarded contracts for the Igbo-Etche -Rumuokwurushi Road, Olakwor-Nihi Road, and the Chokocho-Ozuzu Road that was abandoned by Ogbonna Nwuke, despite being paid for the project.

Governor Wike said Etche will continue to be relevant in the political scheme of the State and be part of the process of discussion among stakeholders in deciding the next governor of the state.