Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike says the present
National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, led by
Uche Secondus cannot lead the party to victory in the 2023 general elections,
hence the quest for its replacement.
The governor has maintained that the internal rumbling that
was recently witnessed in the party was following the failure of the NWC to
carryout its responsibility as an opposition political party effectively.
Speaking on a Channels television live in Port Harcourt on
Tuesday, Wike stated that the PDP remains the only credible alternative party
that Nigerians are expecting to take over power in 2023, given the woeful
performance of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
“If you go to the public and ask Nigerians if PDP is ready
to take over power in 2023, if you take referendum, you will know that
Nigerians are even waiting for PDP. But the fear of Nigerians is whether PDP is
ready to take over power. So, people are concerned about it. Obviously, it is
ripe for PDP to take over, but you must be prepared to take over.
“And we said with what we have now, it will be difficult to
take over power in 2023 if there are no amendment.
“Leadership was the problem. The point is this, the current
NWC, as it is today, cannot lead the party to victory. Nobody has said they
have not done well, one way or the other, but we are talking about the
challenges ahead.
“That is why we are pushing for the party to have other
people to lead the party and to give it a different strength altogether. If you
know APC, you know that you need a robust, determined leadership of the party
(PDP) to make sure you match them word by word, action by action.”
Wike said anyone who loves the PDP and means well for the
party will adhere to the resolutions reached after the intervention of the
governors, Board of Trustees and elders to douse brewing crisis in the party.
The governor dismissed insinuation that he is nurturing a
presidential ambition, hence his opposition to the current NWC.
He stated that his primary preoccupation is to see how the
PDP could be better positioned to win the 2023 general elections.
On the issue of the amended Electoral Act, the governor said
Nigerians are expecting President Mohammadu Buhari to veto the bill over the
rejection of electronic transmission of election results by APC members in the
National Assembly.
The Governor accused President Buhari of supporting the
position of APC members in the National Assembly even after he had attested
publicly on how he benefitted from the introduction of card reader device by
former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
He stressed that the electronic transmission of results is
at the centre of conducting credible and transparent election, and it behoves
the President to bequeath to Nigerians a credible electoral process as he had
promised.
“Mr. President gave Nigerians the assurance that, one of the
legacies that he will leave is to make sure that we have credible, and
transparent election. And one of the steps to show transparency is, let the
election results be transmitted electronically.
“You remember when Mr. President was declared the winner of
that election in 2015, he said that the introduction of the card reader was a
good innovation. We thought he would have improved on that. But, instead, of
improving on that, we are going backwards.”
The governor also wondered why the Senate committee chairman
on INEC, who recommended the transmission of electoral results electronically,
voted against it.
Wike commended the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill
into law, but declared that allocation of a meagre 3 percent for host
communities in the Niger Delta is unacceptable.
“We believe that 3 percent is not enough as regards the kind
of pollution and environmental crisis we have had because of oil exploitation.
I thought what Mr. President would have done was to tell members of National
Assembly, yes, you have done what you are supposed, but again, you need to take
into consideration the yearnings of the host communities.”
The governor bemoaned the exclusion of oil producing state
governments in the implementation and administration of the 3% oil revenue
recommended for host communities in the Petroleum Industry Act.
He expressed concern that the International Oil Companies
will take advantage of this, to continually instigate crisis in oil producing
communities in order not to pay the 3 percent due the host communities.
Speaking on the ongoing constitutional amendment process,
Wike said it is satisfying to know that such function is not an exclusive
preserve of the National Assembly.
According to him, Nigerians are very confident in the
process because they know that whatever the National Assembly has done, there
will be the need to secure a two-third of votes from the 36 State Assemblies.
“But the confidence people have today is that the amendment
of the constitution will get to the State. Take for example, the Federal
Government may not be in support of state Police but you have two-third of
states that say they need state Police, so in that case, state police will
pass. There are issues that you may not like, but these are done on clause by
clause basis.”
Speaking the issue of Valued Added Tax, Wike clarified that
the Rivers State Government went to court to seek constitutional interpretation
of the enabling law on whether State or Federal Government should be the Sole
Collector of VAT.
He stressed that the Rivers State Government is not
perturbed by the decision of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to
appeal the Federal High Court judgment which declared that it is
unconstitutional for the Federal Government to collect VAT.
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