Former Governor of River State, Nyesom Wike, has, for the umpteenth time, thrown his weight behind the aspiration of Senator Godswill Akpabio for the office of the President of the 10th Senate, just as he described those supporting the emergence of a Muslim as the next Senate President as enemies of Nigeria.
Wike stated this in a live Television interview on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, the River State capital.
The former Minister of State for Education frontally accused those wanting to foist their candidates on the President as those who never wanted President Bola Tinubu to emerge from the Presidential contest, saying, “I have said this before, they never wanted Tinubu to be President but he succeeded and that phase has passed and now they don’t want him to succeed and that is why they are setting stumbling blocks before him at the National Assembly.
“There is no government in this world who is a ruling government that can bring up a policy that would make its party unpopular in an election period. No government. Within that period, you introduced Naira redesign and fuel scarcity, two things that would impact on the masses. It was a bobby trap against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,”Wike said.
On why Senator Akpabio should be supported to lead the 10th Senate, Wike said: “Everybody knows my position on this. It should come to the South-south. Why are people so selfish? If the Presidency of the Senate comes to the South, where do you think it should go? To the South-south, of course, and that is my position. Since 1999, the South-east has produced five Senate Presidents for eight years and deputy Senate President for 12 years.
“The South-South has only occupied that office for just four years in 1999 through late Senator Joseph Wayas. Let us tell ourselves the truth. In terms of electoral performance for the President in the South, after the South-west, it is the South-south. The choice of Akpabio is to give the Tinubu-led administration the needed support to deliver on his campaign promises. Asiwaju enjoys the confidence of Akpabio, believes in his ability and capacity to join him in executing his programmes for Nigerians.
“We are supporting the zoning of the office of the President of the 10th Senate to the South-south because that is the right thing to do at this moment for some balancing. Anybody who loves and believes in the unity of this country and wants Tinubu to succeed will not hesitate to support Presidency of the Senate to come to the South-south and the Speaker to the North.
“You want to take the Speakership and the Senate Presidency to the North and to a Muslim. What are they talking about? What would you tell the Christians in this country? We have to be careful. It is only those who don’t want the unity of this country that would come up with that kind of proposal. They should live and let live.
“What signal are you sending out? From the beginning, you set out to frustrate his administration. When he picked a Muslim as his running mate, he was accused of wanting to run an Islamic agenda of islamising Nigeria, which was not correct. He wants to balance the thing now so that Nigerians will know that it wasl all lies, you are here working against it,” the ex-Rivers Governor said.
According to the PDP chieftain, “all these rumors and analysis by lazy politicians will further disunite this country. Let us give support to the President to give hope here and give hope there for national unity, so that it will not look as if we are running a religious government. If you love Tinubu and you truly want him to succeed, you must think twice.”
He stated that those who want to truncate the Tinubu government even before its take-off, have forgotten the bitter lessons of the Bukola Saraki era, saying “it was Nigerians that suffered it. Today, you want to repeat same. What they want to do would be a major setback. Let’s see ourselves as one. Give everybody a sense of belonging. Stop manipulations because it comes with consequences.
“Nigeria is a complex country. Everybody saw what happened during the elections. I heard some so-called leaders of the PDP saying nobody should impose the leadership of the NASS, but they forgot that when they were in government, they were the ones installing Senate Presidents and removing them. You are trying to bring somebody who is working with you to be Senate President to make sure that this administration fails, why? To the detriment of Nigerians?
“Let us allow the President to have his way because when there is no smooth relationship between the leadership of NASS and the President, you can’t have a very good administration. Remember the Saraki era. It was a big problem. The President supports Akpabio. We should allow him. Had it been the President is not supporting him, it would have been a different issue. By their rules, Akpabio is the most ranking from the South-south.
“The argument against the South-south having the Senate Presidency is balderdash. Muhammadu Buhari was President from the North and the Senate President remained in the North for eight years and the Speakership four years. The Chief Justice of Nigeria was Tanko Mohammed. What are we talking about? The office of the CJN is not on appointment nor elective, it is based on seniority,” he declared.
