Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has kicked against moves by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opposition parties to seize the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.
Wike, in a media chat in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, described the move as disruptive and said the Rivers federal lawmakers would not be part of it.
The Governor said despite not being a member of the All Progressives Congress(APC), prominent members of the party interested in the offices of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives had reached out to him to indicate their interests.
He said: “People have come to see me. Wase (Hon. Ahmed Idris) has come, (senator Godswill Akpabio has come, Governor David Umahi has come, Uzor Kalu has called me on phone from US severally. And what am I saying? I’m not from their party, but first of all, democracy entails that the majority should have their way.
“I have heard and read people saying that the opposition parties are meeting to take over the leadership of the National Assembly. They won’t take it, it’s not possible. Even me, I will not support that.”
The Governor said the opposition parties should allow the APC leadership to choose the National Assembly heads because it was their entitlement.
He urged the minority in both chambers of the National Assembly to form a robust opposition to challenge the ruling party.
He said: “APC should still produce the leadership of the Assembly. Nobody should count Rivers State as part of the agenda to take over the leadership of the National Assembly. PDP can’t tell us that. Did they support us to win the election? They can’t tell us that.
“I will not support that kind of move where you want to take over the leadership of the National Assembly as an opposition, I won’t do that. There are so many politicians who are very selfish, I’m not one of them.”
He, however, advised the national leadership of the APC to consider the diversity and complexity of Nigeria in determining its preferred candidates for the offices of the Senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Wike warned the national leadership of the PDP against the plot to make Dino Melaye, the governorship candidate of the party in Kogi saying the former federal lawmaker lacked the capacity to win the state for the party.
He said the acting national chairman of the PDP, Umar Ililya Damagum recently called him and he expressed concern about attempt to manipulate the Kogi governorship primary in favour of senator Dino Melaye.
He said: “Changing delegates list to favour a particular person will further cause crisis in our party. Giving PDP governorship ticket in Kogi State to Dino Melaye is like planning to fail the election , because Dino doesn’t have what it takes to become governor of Kogi State.
“Tomorrow you begin to cry that you were rigged, but you’re already rigging yourself by changing the delegates list to favour someone who cannot win election.”
On the crisis in the PDP, Wike said the defeat of the party in the just-concluded general election was an indication that the suspended national chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, lacked electoral value.
He said the G-5 governors’agitation for rotation of elective and appointive offices based on the principle fairness, equity and justice helped to expose Ayu’s lack of capacity.
“We have exposed Ayu that he has nothing to offer the party. And from the results, it has shown that he has nothing to offer to the party”, he said.
Commenting on the ongoing protest by the Rivers PDP at INEC office in Port Harcourt, he said it was aimed at preventing the manipulation of the results of the March 18, 2023 governorship and House of Assembly elections.
The governor said that since the law allowed political parties to access electoral materials INEC used in conducting the elections, the PDP in the state as a precautionary measure, was insisting on every party having access to the documents at the same time.
Wike explained that PDP was simply being proactive to prevent a recurrence of malicious altering of the will expressed by Rivers people at the polls in 2015 by the police and the APC.
He said: “There is nothing that is abnormal about what you think is going on in Port Harcourt. What PDP is doing is just to be vigilant. Vigilant in the sense that precisely after the 2015 election, inauguration, we had problems that we never believed, and so we didn’t want a recurrence of that at the tribunal.
“It shocked us when we were in the tribunal that police tendered original result, not a copy of the original result, original result, and everybody was shocked. How would police tender original result and INEC had their own original certified true copy? INEC tendered their own, to our greatest surprise, the court accepted the police original result. It was surprising to us.”
Wike said the PDP was being extra vigilant accusing the Rivers APC of having penchant for compromising security agents and some officials of INEC.
He said: “Police brought original result sheet. It is unbelievable. The court accepted police own other than INEC. APC in Rivers State paid police. What we expected is that police should have a copy of INEC result. And how did they get the original result sheet with the same serial number?”
Wike explained that the PDP did not trust INEC enough and would want to be present when APC would be granted access to all electoral materials used in the conduct of the 2023 governorship and House of Assembly elections.
He said: “We are being extra-vigilant because we know what our opponents are capable of doing. All the plans, all the results they have printed to tender before the tribunal, we have it
“ You are dealing with criminals and you must be extra vigilant. People can go to any length to procure documents and you will be shocked what you will see in the tribunal.”
