Rivers State Governor, Nyeson Wike has declared his intention to contest the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Wike made the declaration during a consultative meeting with stakeholders of the Benue chapter of the PDP at the Government House in Makurdi on Sunday.
His disclosure comes a few days after Aminu Tambuwal, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi declared their interests in the presidential ticket of the party.
The Rivers governor, who expressed confidence that PDP would win the presidency in the next election, said he is the best man to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
“If you’re running election, power isn’t given for free; it is taken. I’ve come out and I’m going to take this power from APC back to PDP by the grace of God,” he said.
“God has given us what it takes. That’s why God is making APC to make mistake everyday and that is how you know that God is with you.”
Wike, who said he had stood with the PDP through thick and thin, accused most of the presidential aspirants of the party as being responsible for its defeat in 2015, noting that those founding fathers who ran away from the party and still came back, wanting to be recognised have lost their shares.
He said, “Those who want to be president now were the problems of the party in 2015. They ran away when the party needed them most.
“But I have stood and worked for this party. I have nowhere to run to because I take it personally that the party should not die. And I challenge anyone in a debate what they did for PDP.”
He continued, “Let these people who are interested in presidency in the PDP tell us their contributions. You claimed to be one of the founding fathers of the party, but you left and came 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, then you come back and found that it is now doing well, will you want to come and take over?”
The Presidential hopeful urged stakeholders to give him their mandates and not to sell their votes, adding that some of the PDP presidential aspirants were only after the nation’s most exalted seat for personal gains.
He also assured the party’s stakeholders that he has the capacity to challenge the APC and move this country forward.
According to him, “Some people want to use Nigeria to get back their private businesses. Let them mention their private sector that survived. Is it 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.
“As a governor, I have performed well. I can go anywhere with my shoulders high. How many of them have challenged this government (APC)?
“I have spoken truth to power. I don’t have problem with anybody but have to tell them the truth. Umahi and others abused me because I told him that you cannot take our mandate away.
“Just give me the mandate. I will speak the truth to power and nothing but the truth. I have the capacity to move this country forward.”
Wike appealed to Benue people to vote for him during the coming party primary, promising that if elected, security would be his topmost priority.
“Don’t sell your vote, please give me your vote as we go to primary.
“If I become president, we will take security as priority because the main purpose of government is protection of lives and property.”
Ezinwanne Onwuka, senior staff reporter and columnist with WAP is a Nigerian-based writer and content developer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Her interests include reading, writing, researching and graphic designing.
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