Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said that he will start campaigning for his preferred presidential candidate in January next year.
Speaking during the inauguration of a flyover in Obi-Akpor LGA on Thursday, Wike said he will mobilise people “from state to state” for his preferred candidate from January.
He said, “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.
“Not only will I tell them where they will vote, 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, you said if they vote for PDP, they are voting for 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?”
There has been a crisis of confidence in the party over calls for the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu, to step down from his position.
The calls, championed by Wike and his allies, the G-5 Governors, are based on the grounds that the PDP presidential candidate and national chairman cannot be from the same geo-political zone.
Amid the crisis, the Integrity Group inclusive of five PDP governors — Wike (Rivers); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Samuel Ortom (Benue); Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia); and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu)— was formed.
All the five governors have exempted themselves from the campaign train of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, for the 2023 general election.
