Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike says he is not nursing the ambition of running for the office of the President of Nigeria.
Governor Wike made the clarification on Sunday in a television program monitored in Port Harcourt.
The governor said speculations linking him to presidential ambition are distractions.
“Right now, I am focusing on delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of Rivers state.
“Recall
that in 2018 and 2019 when I was supporting my friend Aminu Waziri
Tambulwal, it was speculated in the media that I was going to run with
him. That was my first tenure and I have not even completed it and they
wanted me to give that away.
“To clear every
speculation, let me state that I am not going to run for the office of
the president of Nigeria for now. I am concentrating in developing
Rivers state. I am not a party to anybody saying that the problems in
PDP is about 2023.
“That can be the problem in
APC because it is the ruling party. This the last tenure of Mr.
president and he is going, so people are hustling to take over from him
within his party. PDP has nothing to do with that because the way it is
now, we are taking over from nothing.
“Now, I
just started my second tenure and you’re talking about the presidency.
When that enters anybody’s head then that person will not be able to
provide the dividends of democracy to the people. And that is the
problem you see in APC because everybody is thinking of taking over from
the President instead of concentrating to do their work.
“They
don’t even know the minds of Nigerians. But because of the kind of
politics we have, people feel since Mr. President is leaving, they do
not want his party to lose out. How will someone in an opposition party
begin to contemplate of running for presidency when I still have time
to provide things for my state,” he said.
Commenting
on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s aspiring to contest for the
presidency again, governor Wike said it is a fundamental right that
cannot be denied.
He however, said it is too
early to determine who will fly the presidential flag of PDP because
the focus is on how to get the party more organised in order to secure
more political seats.
“I am not interested in
who wants to run for now. I am more interested that PDP should become
more organised. Let us get more political seats. When the time comes,
we will all sit down as a party to decide on who will fly the flag.
On
zoning of PDP presidential ticket to the north, governor Wike said
the national executive council of the party has not taken a final
decision.
“We
will come together to resolve issues because we are a family. Outsiders
can not do things that will divide us. What we are interested in now
is how we can remain united to take over power from APC that has failed
Nigeria.
