As the battle for internal democracy takes the center stage in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the general elections Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has disclosed that contrary to insinuations in some quarters, he and his loyalists in the state would not leave the party but remain to continue the fight.
Governor Wike stated this during a meeting with stakeholders of the party across the 319 wards of the state at the Banquet Hall of the Government House in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
He said retreating from a fight is a sign of weakness. The meeting was to brief the party leaders on the recent happenings in the party and intimate them of the plan by the Governor to hold a media chat tomorrow at 10 am to speak on the state of the PDP in the country.
“One thing I have always told people is if anybody is thinking, doing anything to think that we will leave PDP, foul. We will do the fight in the party. We are not like them when in 2014 they walked out of Eagle Square. They’ve forgotten. They walked out and joined APC. Is it not correct?” Wike said.
“Did they remain to fight inside the party? But we remained; they ran away. Now, there is a fight in the party, we will not run. We will fight it in this party. Those who run away from fights are weak people. We will not. So, everybody should know this is the state where we are so that nobody tells you all kinds of stories.”
Wike said the planned media chat is to publish his side of the story, which he maintained is the truth, and expose the ill characters of some persons who pride themselves as national leaders.
According to him, after the chat, it will be left for Nigerians to decide if such people are still worthy of the ovation they are accorded. Governor Wike wondered why the PDP which is promising to unify Nigeria, cannot unite the party.
Governor Wike says despite the internal crisis at the national level and a pocket of antagonism by some ungrateful PDP members in Rivers State, the party will retain all elective positions in the state.
The PDP is currently occupying all three senatorial seats, 13 House of Representatives positions, 32 state House of Assembly seats, 23 Council chairmanship, and 319 councilorship positions.
Wike, a former minister, boasted of being well ahead of his detractors, saying he gets wind of every plan before it is executed.
He also warned party members in the state against acting as moles because there will be no loopholes in the strategy that will be adopted by the party in the state for the 2023 elections.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the PDP in Rivers State, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, says members of the party in the State are committed to supporting the political ideals of Governor Wike and will obey his instructions on the next line of actions ahead of the elections.
Akawor, a former Nigerian Ambassador to South -Korea, says the party is pleased with the way Governor Wike has been running the state both in administration and politics.
