I can’t be second-class citizen, says Wike, As Atiku begins reconciliation

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike on Monday opened fire on People’s Democratic Party Primary and accused some PDP rulers of undermining him.

Wike, speaking at a reception for South Africans in Port Harcourt after his arrival from Abuja, where he was studying elementary school, said he was no longer second.

He said he had told the winner of the PDP’s shadow election, former Deputy President Atiku Abubakar, that those around him had no support for the election.

The governor, who came second in the run-up to the primary party held in Abuja on Saturday, said this as there were indications on Monday that PDP governors would soon meet as part of the process of electing Atiku’s partner.

He said some PDP rulers were meeting with some interested parties to thwart southern Nigeria’s desire to produce the next president.

According to him, it was an agreement with the southern rulers that the presidency came to the South, and he did not betray that agreement.

Wike in a statement to his news assistant, Kelvin Ebiri in Port Harcourt, described as shameful the inability of some of those who were part of the agreement to stick to the agreement when it was necessary.

The governor accused them of selling out, and disrupted joint efforts to secure a ticket for the PDP president in the South.

The statement read, “I contested the (basic) election based on principle and agreement with all Southern rulers and Southern leaders that the presidency should go to the South at this time. We have done our part. We have never betrayed anyone because it is not in our blood to betray. But it is a disgrace that those people, some of the rulers of the South, are the people who are being used to destroy our course. ”

Wike said it was disappointing that some Southern rulers because of their extreme ambitions could undermine the interests of the people they claimed to represent.

“Look at the district being a gangster, and then you, your district, can’t meet. You have become a tool to be used against the interests of your people, and you think you have won, you have lost.

You will continue to be enslaved forever. River people, you don’t have to worry. The PDP needs us. If they say they don’t need us, they should wait, ”he added.

The governor explained that he was thrown into a competition to help and promote Nigerian interest, adding that In this program, he faced a few people who wanted someone to control him and refused to have such a doll.

“The winner (of the ticket) also saw it. They look down on us, but now they will not look down on us. We have everything we need to do whatever we want to do.

“It’s up to you to be strong, it’s up to you to be optimistic. No one is born bigger than we are in this world, so we cannot be second class citizens. We can’t.

“We have just used this to tell them that it is enough. We kept them awake. We made them not eat. We did it all wherever they said they were coming out so they knew someone could carry them. This world is not a single place. When people are afraid to speak it is their job. I will not be a second-class citizen in my country. ”

“Some of them, their in-laws are rulers of the ruling party, but they want to interfere in what is happening in the PDP. Some of them, their brothers are rulers in the ruling party and they want to interfere in the PDP, ”he said.

Wike said that once the presidential election is over, and promises to serve anyone who appears, Rivers State will work to bring the PDP and all candidates to the 2023 general election.

The governor recalled that in 2019, despite the candidate’s failure to support him in getting the ticket, Rivers State gave the PDP a majority of votes and refused to negotiate with the All Progressives Congress to give them 25 percent of the vote.

The governor said he had told the winner of the PDP president’s flag that most of those sitting around him did not have the right to vote.

“I told Atiku Abubakar this afternoon to see that some of the people who are following you here, have no votes, nothing. I have votes; So, I have something to give you. Do they have something to offer? In 2019, I am the only governor from the south-south who has never negotiated with the current government. They came, I said no, I will not be part of that. And that is why the APC has never been 25 percent in this province. but in all other southern states, the president received 35 to 40 percent. I said I would not sit down with them and discuss, ”said Wike

He said it was important for people from the North or South to cast their ballot for Rivers State in the 2023 general election for the PDP to win the presidency.

Wike said it was wrong for the party to allow the governor of Sokoto Province, Aminu Tambuwal, to speak for a second time after each of the candidates’ appointments.

At the time, Wike assured him that he would not abandon his team despite his defeat in the first presidential race. He promised to support the party flag bearer.

Writing on his official twitter @GovWike, the governor said, “I pledge to the PDP that I will support anyone from the #PDPPresidentialPrimaries and I will not back down on my word.

“We cannot leave @OfficialPPPNig, we will be fully supporting HE @atik

In a related development, Atiku on Monday, met with the former senate president, Bukola Saraki in Abuja,

Atiku had defeated Saraki and others in the party’s first presidency in Abuja on Saturday night.

Monday’s meeting, according to secret sources at the meeting, was to help reconcile and ensure the PDP defeats the opposition and the ruling APC.

The meeting was also attended by a former attendee