Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike says the people of the state won’t vote for presidential candidates along ethnic or political party lines in 2023.
Governor Wike also listed equity, justice and fairness as the conditions for truce between the leadership of his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the aggrieved Group of Five (G5) governors.
Apart from Wike, other G5 members are: Samuel Ortom (Benue); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ngwuanyi (Enugu).
The governors demanding the resignation of Dr. Iyorcha Ayu as PDP national chairman to pave the way for a Southerner to take the position.
According to them, Ayu who is from the North cannot hold on to the position when Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is the party’s presidential candidate.
Wike spoke on Wednesday when former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole inaugurated a flyover located in Rumueprikon, his country home in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Port Harcourt.
The governor said Nigeria was in dire need of unity, justice and equity, adding that the next election would not be based on party, ethnicity and religion.
He said it was unacceptable for anybody to say people should not be voted for because they were not from a particular ethnic group or religion.
Wike said: “What we require in this country today is united, one Nigeria. This how all of us can see ourselves as one and how we can see ourselves as our brothers’ keepers.
“We need a Nigeria that all us can be proud of, that I will know that truly I am not a second class citizen, that the same right you have is the same right I have, the same opportunity you have is the same opportunity that I have. There is no need of saying if you are not from this place people will not vote for you. We don’t want that.
On the condition for truce, Wike clarified that the group of five governors fighting for inclusiveness in PDP will spurn any reconciliation not based on the principles of equity, justice and fairness.
He renewed their position that elective offices must be shared equally between the North and the South in the opposition party ahead of the 2023 general election.
Wike said: “People will praise you but the day you say no, they will oppose you. I am sure those of them in my party, before they cannot say anything without mentioning Wike. But now because I said let the right thing be done, I have now become an enemy. These are people who are praising me everything.
“And some people believe they won’t obey an agreement but we say it must be done. We stand for equity, fairness and justice. That is what the G5 will continue to preach. We have said we are not against reconciliation but it must be based on equity, fairness and justice”.
The governor expressed regret for supporting the re-election of Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki.
He apologised to Oshiomole for all his utterances in the run-up to the election of Obaseki for second term.
The Rivers governor, however, recalled that Oshiomhole, when he held sway as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) vigorously opposed his relection in 2019, accusing the former Edo helmsman of deploying soldiers to frustrate him.
He said Oshiomhole’s ouster as the APC Chairman brought a lot of relief to opposition parties, describing the former chairman as tough and strong.
Wike said: “I use this opportunity to apologise to you. I came to Edo State to make sure your candidate didn’t win the election. I was virtually in charge of everything. And I said you wouldn’t win and you didn’t win. That assignment had been done and we now know who is who. I want to tell my people that I sincerely apologise to you. I want to sincerely apologise for all the things I said that time.