The Rivers State Governor, Nyeson Wike has declared his intention to contest the 2023 presidential election insisting he has the capacity to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Wike made the declaration to party stakeholders when he visited his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom at the Government House in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
His disclosure comes barely days after Aminu Tambuwal, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi declared their interests in the presidential ticket of the main opposition party.
“To remove APC from power, I’m the person who can tell them enough is enough,” Mr Wike said. “We must take this power and I’m ready to take it for PDP.”
“God is with us that’s why APC keeps failing every day,” he added
Mr Wike accused the politicians of not funding the party as he had done over the years, claiming to have more say within the party than many other members, especially those who had left to join other parties at one time or another or who just joined the party.
He said he possesses what it takes to turn around the country for the better and also said that his contributions to the party over the years were good enough to get the party support.
Wike charged the party delegates to be mindful of some presidential aspirants who claimed to be the founding father of the party as well as those who flaunt their father’s wealth, saying they were the ones responsible for the defeat of the party in 2015.
He said, “Let these people who are interested in the presidency in PDP tell us their contributions, you claimed to be one of the founding fathers of the party, but you have left and come back, you have become an ordinary person in the new PDP.
“If you form a company and run away because the company is not doing well you come back and found that it is now doing well and you want to come and take over.
“Some people want to use Nigeria to get back their private businesses, let them mention their private sector that survived. Is it a bank that your father had?
“Everybody is an employer of labour, even me I have 50 people in my house, so everybody has been employing people according to his capacity.
The Rivers State Governor also made of donation of 200 million naira each for the Kastina-Ala and Makurdi markets which were gutted by fire.
Nyesom Wike holds the tiv traditional title of Igyuve I tiv meaning the eagle of the tiv people and is a close ally of the State Governor.
