No governor can hijack party’s structures, Wike declares

Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers state, has stated that no single governor could hijack the structures of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.

He said that those making insinuations to that effect were being economical with the truth.

Speaking during a special appearance on Channels Television Sunrise Daily at the Government House, Port Harcourt, weekend, Governor Wike said that all governors were equal and worked in unity for the stability of the PDP.

Governor Wike stated that no governor could control party affairs in another state, which was not within his jurisdiction.

He said: “All governors are equal in the party. There is no single Governor that can finance a political party as big as the PDP.”

Speaking on comments credited to former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Governor Wike said that the former leader has left the PDP and destroyed his membership card and wondered why the former president was so interested in developments within the PDP.

The governor noted that the stability of the political party was not attained by financial muscle, but by the cooperation of all members.

Speaking further, the governor said that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, under the current circumstances lacked the capacity to conduct credible elections.

He said that beyond mere rhetoric, INEC should take concrete steps to convince Nigerians that they would improve on the conduct of elections.

Governor Wike said that the first step that INEC should take was to transparently investigate the alleged printing of fake INEC result sheets by Rivers APC chieftains.

The governor added that INEC should further explain how the police allegedly got original result sheets with same serial number of the Rivers East Senatorial District election, where he said INEC declared Senator George Sekibo winner, only for the police to allegedly tender a different result, relied upon by the court to declare APC winner in that election.

Commenting on the re-ordering of election sequence by the National Assembly, Governor Wike said that he believed it was not targeted at the President as some APC leaders had argued.

On projects delivery in Rivers State, Governor Wike maintained that he had instituted a system to do away with the era of abandoned projects which he inherited from his predecessor.

He added that the State Government had reached out to all the 23 Local Government Areas with meaningful projects and in other cases, he had completed projects abandoned by the Amaechi administration.

“I am guided to execute projects that will be completed in four years. I will not start any project that will be abandoned,” he said.

He stated that his administration was actively promoting women participation in government and also empowering women. The governor noted that N500million has been set aside as an empowerment scheme for Rivers women.

He reiterated that he had not been reached through official channels on the visit of the President. He noted that the communication line between the Presidency and the Rivers State Government was not through a press statement issued by Femi Adesina.

“If you are saying that the President is coming to commiserate with the families of the people who died on 1st January, 2018, I have no problems with that. Since 1st January, 2018, nobody has called to commiserate with the Rivers State Government. When the January 1 attack happened, APC leaders politicised the attack,” he said.

The governor claimed that for close to three years, Rivers State has not benefitted from the APC Federal Government and that the Ogoni clean-up has remained in the realm of rhetoric, while the Bodo-Bonny Road was about to be abandoned.

He stressed that the East West road, the Port Harcourt International Airport and other Federal Projects had been left unattended to, pointing out that in the coming days, political flag off and promises would be heightened around the neglected projects to hoodwink Nigerians.