Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers State says he will never join the All Progressives Congress (APC), despite working against the interest of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming presidential election.
Wike described as mere speculations, news that he would dump the PDP for APC while speaking at the 114th quarterly general meeting of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers in Port Harcourt, the State capital on Monday.
He told the council ahead of Saturday‘s presidential election, that he would be voting for only the candidate that can guarantee the unity of the country.
“I am not a member of APC and I will not be. But, they have made me to recognise that they are the heroes of this country,” he said.
“The governors came out to say look, for the unity of this country, presidency should go to the south. The governors of APC said the way the county is, they want the unity of this country and therefore, the presidency should go to the south.
“They could have as well said no, it doesn’t matter. As governors we have the number. We can still say it should remain where it should remain. But they didn’t do that. They said the way we are seeing this country we want everybody to be together.
“Let no one say because I have the population, therefore, you will continue to dominate. In dominating you need peace, without peace you cannot govern.”
Speaking on the crisis in PDP, the governor stated that Rivers State has helped to sustain PDP right from the era of former governor, Dr. Peter Odili down to his administration. Therefore, he insisted that it is absolutely wrong for a section of the country to deny other people the opportunity to participate in presiding over the affair of the nation.
“We are all Nigerians and we want the unity of this country. We want Nigeria to move forward as a united country. Rivers State has always been in support of one Nigeria and we’ll continue to support one Nigeria. But in doing that, we believe in equity, we believe in justice, we believe in fairness. As the governor of this State, I will vote for the unity of this country. I will vote for anything that will unite Nigeria.
“I will not support anything that will divide Nigeria. And that is what necessitated the principle of live and let’s live. If only one person continues to live, things will not be good. It’s not about party, it is about Nigeria. I am a member of Peoples Democratic Party, unrepentant member, who in fact, built this party when people ran away.”
He explained that the reason why he has been one of the arrowheads of those agitating inclusivity in PDP, is because of his belief in the unity of the country. According to him, a strategic State like Rivers, cannot be relegated to play second fiddle in the country.
