At least, 14 governorship aspirants in Rivers State vying on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday, staged a rally against the aspiration of the former Minister of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, and called for the rotation of the governorship position in the state.
The PDP governorship aspirants, who were mainly from the riverine area of the state had converged on the Liberation Stadium in Port Harcourt, demanding that the party hierarchy in the state should change its no-zoning stance in the interest of justice.
They also called on the National Working Committee of the party to intervene in the crisis rocking the state PDP over the ‘no zoning’ stance of the state PDP.
It will be recalled that the State Chairman of the PDP had thrown the forthcoming governorship primary of the party open to all aspirants and discarding the zoning system.
But speaking at the rally organised by the Rivers State Mainstream Coalition in conjunction with the state PDP stakeholders, one of the aspirants, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, explained that the issue of zoning was non-negotiable, adding that the PDP has been practising rotation of power since its creation.
Lulu-Briggs argued that if Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State would not be able to succeed President Goodluck Jonathan as President in 2019, it would be wrong for an Ikwerre person to succeed Mr. Rotimi Amaechi as the Rivers State governor.
He decried the move by the hierarchy of the state PDP to stop the rally, maintaining that one of the reasons for organising the rally was to express their support for President Jonathan.
“Since it is not possible to say that Governor (Seriake) Dickson should succeed President Goodluck Jonathan in 2019, then rotation of power should be embraced in Rivers State the way it has been embraced in Akwa Ibom. Give us Rivers State, Give us our right,” Lulu-Briggs said.
The convoy of one of the aspirants, Mr. Sunday Nwankwo, was said to have been attacked in Etche Local Government Area.
Another governorship aspirant on the platform of the PDP, Sampson Ngerebara said it was wrong for Wike to take the credit for projecting President Jonathan in the state, adding that he was also involved in the mobilisation of support for the President through the Grassroots Initiative.
According to Ngerebara, “The question they ask us in Abuja is that where were you when Nyesom Wike was fighting for Jonathan. But I was part of the GDI and it was wrong to say Wike alone fought for Goodluck Jonathan. The cardinal point of GDI was to mobilise support for GEJ and we were all involved in this. But today, one man (Wike) wants to take all alone.
“Today, one person is talking about Ikwerre North and Ikwerre South, but we will not allow that to be part of our political lexicon. It takes a good follower to be a good leader. We understand the meaning of politics and let nobody take us for a ride.”
In his remark, the leader of Rivers Mainstream Coalition, Professor Israel Owate and a Niger Delta leader, Ann Kio-Briggs stated that the rotation of the governorship position in the state was imperative, adding that it would be impossible for an Ikwerre person to succeed another Ikwerre man.
Among other aspirant that spoke at the rally are Bekinbo Dagogo-Jack, Bernard Mikko, Denis Ojuka and Gabriel Pidomson.
Reacting, the Secretary-general of the GDI, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, explained that Wike was not worried about the move against him, adding that the PDP will support any aspirant that emerges the governorship candidate.
“It shows clearly what we have been saying in time past that these are people sponsored by Governor Rotimi Amaechi. You can see that all their aspersions were not against Amaechi, but against the PDP.
“You can imagine about 27 persons coming to discuss one man (Wike). Nevertheless, the issue of what happened in Akwa Ibom and the situation in Rivers State are different. The PDP in Rivers State is the opposition and we must present the best candidate and the party has said that we must discard zoning to achieve this.
“Wike is not worried by the move against him. I don’t see why it is a problem to them. For us, we are saying that we want everybody to come to the field and if the delegate support you, that is okay. You can see that the stadium was an empty stadium, we don’t have anything to worry about,” Nwanosike said. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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wetin happen for fowl house don dey happen for turkey house. Wike, in 50,000 word explain how e dey b u now? Jamb qst,1963. lol
ReplyDeletePDP rivers state should beg Amaechi oooooo! Well lets see how things play out. But i am sure that even the least fool will not vote for WIKE next year. Is it only ikwerri people that are alive in Rivers state? WIKE see you at the polls come 2015.
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