Governor of Rivers State, Southern Nigeria, Nyesom Wike has insisted on a president of the southern extraction come 2023.
Gatekeepers News reports that Wike said this while speaking to Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stakeholders at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
He warned against undermining the interest of the South whenever the opposition party decides the choice of its presidential standard-bearer.
He insisted that it was the turn of the South to provide the party’s standard-bearer in the election.
Last year, the Southern governors, voted for rotation of the presidential seat to the South.
Wike said: “Please, discountenance anything you’re seeing and hearing; all those social media posts. The South will make a statement very soon. It is not about you’ll be vice president to this or that.
“Nigerians will know that we are not joking. People take the South for granted, saying that they are not together. No problems. If we didn’t know yesterday, today, we know.
“We are assets. We are not a liability. When we say we are going to support the party, we support the party with everything we have. We are not in America where you do television campaigns.
“When we come out, we will choke them. They know it. So, everybody should relax, let the south do their homework and then they’ll make a proper statement.
“What is necessary is how the party must be cohesive, to make sure that the party gets it right.”
He said those planning to use money to overwhelm the internal democracy and buy off the ticket would be disappointed.
Wike added that those calling for the PDP to jettison zoning of elective offices were doing that for selfish and personal interests that do not reflect the true spirit of federalism.
He noted that it will be unfair for the presidential ticket to go to the North as the zone had produced the party chairman in the person of Senator Iyorcha Ayu.
He lambasted PDP Chieftain Dr. Raymond Dokpesi who is rooting for Atiku.
Wike said, “With all due respect. If we follow the kind of statement that Dokpesi is making every day, by now, the party would have been destroyed. But, we say no.”
