A statement by the governor’s Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, said the governor, who described the insinuations that he would defect to the APC as speculative, maintained that he remains an unrepentant member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The governor stated these at the 114th quarterly general meeting of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers in Port Harcourt, the state capital, yesterday.
He informed 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 recognise that they are the heroes of this country.
“The governors came out to say, look, for the unity of this country, the 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.
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“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 affairs 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 parties, it is about Nigeria. I am a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, an 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 for 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.
Governor Wike said though he does not encourage traditional rulers’ involvement in politics, he, however, urged them to support the PDP governorship candidate, Sir Siminialayi Fubara, who he formally presented to the council, for the continuity of the developmental stride recorded by his administration since 2015.
He added, “In the next few months, I will be a former (governor). But former in a big way. My transition will be smooth; there will be no crisis. Don’t make the mistake to go and vote for another person. You want to distort everything we have done, and then our state will go backward. Let’s allow continuity.”
The governor declared that in the over seven years of his administration, none of the 23 local government areas of the state can claim they were neglected in terms of project execution.
