Politics

Some PDP Govs Ganged Up Against Southern Presidency – Wike

Published

2 years ago

May 30, 2022

Says North Will No Longer Underrate South

The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has said some Peoples Democratic Party governors ganged up with some vested interest groups to derail the quest of southern Nigeria to produce the next president of Nigeria.

He said it was the agreement of the governors of southern Nigeria that the presidency should come to the South, and he did not betray that agreement.

Wike made the explanation at a grand reception organised by the Rivers people on Monday in Port Harcourt to welcome him back from Abuja after the PDP presidential primary.

Wike, in a statement by his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri, issued 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 mattered.

The Rivers State Governor accused them of selling out and frustrating the collective efforts that would have secured the PDP presidential ticket by him for the South.

The statement read, “I contested in an election (primary) based on the principle and agreement with all southern governors and leaders of the South that presidency should go to the South this period.

“We have done our part. We never betrayed anybody because it is not in our blood to betray. But it is a shame to those people, some of the governors from the South, they are the people that were used to sabotage our course.”

Governor Wike said it was disheartening that some governors from the South, due to their inordinate ambition, could jettison the collective interest of the people they claimed to represent.

“Look at a region ganged up, then you, your region cannot gang up. You became tools to be used against the interest of your people, and you think you have won, you have lost.

“You will continue to be perpetual slaves. Rivers people, you don’t need to bother yourselves. The PDP needs us. If they say they don’t need us, they should wait,” he added.

The governor explained that he was propelled into the race to offer service and advance the interest of Nigeria, adding that in the process, he was confronted by a few individuals who wanted somebody they would control and he declined to be such a puppet.

“The winner (of the ticket) also saw it. They underrated us, but now, they will not underrate us again. We have all it takes to do whatever we want to do.

“It is a matter of you being firm, it is a matter of you being hopeful. There is nobody that is born greater than us in this country, therefore, we cannot answer second-class citizen. We can’t.

“We just used this one to tell them that enough is enough. We made them not sleep. We made them not eat. We made all of them from wherever they said they come from to know that there is somebody who can take them on.

“This country does not belong to one particular zone. If people are afraid of talking it is their business. I cannot be a second-class citizen in my country.

“Some of them, their in-laws are governors in the ruling party, but they want to interfere in what happens in the PDP. Some of them, their brothers are governors in the ruling party and they want to interfere in the PDP,” he added.

Governor Wike said with the presidential primary over, and given his pledge to work for whoever emerged, Rivers State would work to deliver the PDP and all its candidates in the 2023 general election.

The governor recalled that in 2019, despite the failure of the candidate he supported to clinch the ticket, Rivers State gave PDP massive votes and refused to negotiate with the All Progressives Congress to give them 25 percent votes.

“In 2019, I was the only governor from the South-South who never negotiated with the present government. They came, I said no, I was not going to be a party to that. And that is why APC never had 25 percent in this State (Rivers).

“But, in all the other States in the South-South, the president got 35 percent to 40 percent. I said I was not going to sit down with them and negotiate.”

Governor Wike said he has even told the winner of the PDP presidential primary, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that most of those hanging around him do not have electoral value.

He pointed out it would be imperative for such people from states, whether in the North or South, to deliver the kind of votes that Rivers State will deliver in the 2023 general election in order for the PDP to win the presidency.

Governor Wike said it was wrong for the party to have allowed the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, to speak for a second time after the time allotted to each of the aspirants to address the delegates.

The Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly, Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, in his remarks, described the governor as an emancipator, who had solved a particular nagging problem in Nigeria, saying that was the issue of minority question.

The Chairman, PDP Rivers State, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, commended Governor Wike for his resilience and that the entire state and the Niger Delta were happy that he spoke for them.

Speaking on behalf of Rivers elders, former president, Nigerian Bar Association, Onueze Okocha (SAN), observed that Governor Wike contested the PDP presidential primary because he was motivated by his desire to serve the country and bring back the PDP to governance in Nigeria.

“You have done us proud. You’ve done Rivers State proud. You’ve done the country, the teeming masses of those who are yearning for capable leadership, you’ve done them proud. And they will continue to believe in you, they will continue to place their hope in you,” Okocha stated.

PUNCH.

Politics

Poll: APC Has No Sellable Candidate, Nothing To Campaign On – Edo Govt

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

The Edo State Government claimed on Monday that the All Progressives Congress, APC, has no credible candidate for the September 21 governorship election.

This was an assertion made by the Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, at a press conference in Benin City.

Nehikhare also alleged that the party is using lies and propaganda as its campaign strategy.

According to him: “The only APC strategy for the governorship election is to resort to lies and propaganda. When a party takes lies and propaganda as an election strategy, it means it has nothing to offer the people. The party lacks people with character, capacity, and intellect.”

The commissioner who took journalists through a screened shot WhatsApp chat said: “What we have here is the official APC WhatsApp platform, their own people screenshot their discussion. One of them who has a conscience asks, is this the only thing we have?”

Nehikhare, who said APC is ashamed to campaign for its candidate, noted that, as of today, nobody had heard of what the party has for the state.

“All we heard is how they are going to help their paymaster, lies and propaganda that will not help the state,” he added.

He opined that lies and propaganda are not strategies the opposition party, like APC, can use to win the September 21 governorship election.

The commissioner, who warned against misinformation and fake news ahead of the governorship election, urged media practitioners to be neutral in matters concerning lies and propaganda.

He, however, noted that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration has a lot of achievements to market and sell its candidate for the election.

Politics

Defection: Edo Govt, Ex-PDP BoT Member, Idahosa In Verbal War

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

Edo State government and a former member of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board of Trustees, Charles Idahosa, on Monday traded words over the latter defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Recall that Idahosa resigned
formally resigned who had last month resigned from PDP, rejoined the APC on Monday in Benin City.

Speaking during his formal presentation to the APC in Benin City, he noted that he left the party four years ago due to internal crisis.

Idahosa added that he dumped the PDP because of what he described as the “damning deeds of the Obaseki-led administration in the last four years”.

He took a swipe at Obaseki for saying that PDP would win the forthcoming September governorship election with 80 per cent of votes.

“I thank God, four years later we all are wiser now. Like the Secretary said, I was a founding member of ACD, ACN and APC. The damage we did four years ago, the APC never remained the same.

“But I am glad we are back to the family. I was nominated to the Board of the Railway when I was in the APC. When I moved to the PDP, I wrote to resign my membership but it was rejected and showed my wide acceptance.

“At 71, I am not here to contest position with anybody, I am here to work. I want to urge APC to keep their eyes on the ball. It is not over until it is over.”

While lambasting Governor Obaseki for his comment that those leaving PDP have been given money, he noted that his greatest regret was not allowing the governor to resign after his first four years in office.

“When he came to beg me like a weather beaten chicken, how much did he give to me? Anytime he goes religious gathering he would say those leaving PDP have been given money.

“He came to me three times in my house to say he wants to resign, that he was tired of being governor but I appealed to him, telling him it was not about him but Benin interest.”

But in a swift reaction, the state Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare alleged that Idahosa was never a PDP member.

Nehikhare noted that Idahosa was also never a BOT member of the party, because the party in the state rejected his nomination.

He alleged that it was as a result of the rejection that he found his way back to APC.

“I heard that he claimed to be a member of BOT of PDP but I want to challenge him to tell us when he was sworn in as a member of PDP BOT. He was not a fit and proper person. Even though he was nominated he was shunned by the party.

“It was this that drove him back to APC which he never left in the first place. He was holding on to the board appointment which was offered him while in APC prior to 2020 governorship election.

“He has reached the end of his political career. He has nothing to offer any political party or any group he joins because he believes in bread and butter politics,” Nehikhare said.

Politics

Edo Guber: Ex-PDP BoT Member Joins APC, Says ‘I Regret Supporting Obaseki

Published

2 days ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

A former member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Charles Idahosa on Monday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he regretted supporting Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki four-year ago.

Idahosa said his greatest regret is stopping Governor Godwin Obaseki from resigning in 2020 after he was frustrated out of the APC in his bid to seek reelection on the party’s platform.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after his declaration for the APC at his residence in Benin City, with leaders of the APC in attendance, Idahosa said his return to the APC is homecoming.

The former Information Commissioner in Edo State said in 2020, the governor had cried to him over the ill -treatment meted on him by his predecessor and National chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole and was considering resigning.

Idahosa noted that Obaseki was at the verge of giving up to allow the APC to pick another governorship candidate, but he (Idahosa) encouraged him to keep hope alive and he personally fought the battle for the governor to win his reelection .

Idahosa, however, lamented that Obaseki utterances during the inauguration of the PDP Campaign Council for the 2024 election was heartless and uncomplimentary when he accused the defectors from PDP as having received huge sums of money before their defection.

The former BoT member of the PDP, while urging the Edo APC leadership to work in synergy ahead of the governorship election, said that the greatest misfortune to befall the APC is for Godwin Obaseki to install a successor.

Idahosa who pledged his support for the governorship candidate of the APC, Senator Monday Okphebholo, said street survival instinct not doctoral degrees (PhD) or big grammar is needed as a criteria for the next governor that will succeed Obaseki.

He urged Edo people and the APC to put the damning deeds of the Obaseki-led government of 4 years ago in the past and unite to stop the governor and the PDP governorship candidate from taking over the governance of the state in the September 21st governorship election.

He said, “Four years later, we are all wiser. I am back to the APC, which is my family. It is homecoming for me and I am very comfortable. At 71 , I am not going to be a threat to anybody. I am joing the APC to work. Nobody should be afraid or scared that Charles Idahosa is joining the APC because I won’t be contesting any position. “

Earlier, the APC state secretary, Lawrence Okah, while receiving Idahosa into the party, said the former member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Charles Idahosa is a man of honour and a foundation member of the APC.