TheCable

Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, says nobody can cause division among his allies in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

Wike spoke on Monday, while inaugurating a flyover along the Aba-Enugu expressway in Osisioma Ngwa LGA of Abia — the Rivers governor was a guest of Okezie Ikpeazu, governor of Abia.

Ikpeazu and some PDP governors — Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Samuel Ortom of Rivers, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu — have been found in the company of the Rivers governor in recent times amid the crisis rocking the party.

TheCable had reported how Wike and his associates recently travelled to London, where they held a series of meetings with leading presidential candidates.

Speaking on Monday, Wike said his colleagues in the PDP are working with him to demand that the right thing be done in the party.

“They say some people are making attempts to break my rank. I say to myself that they don’t understand the modus operandi of what we are doing. If they understand the modus operandi of what we are doing, they won’t waste their time,” Wike said. 

“If you like, go and meet Ikpeazu. If you like go and meet Seyi (Makinde), if you like, go and meet Ortom (Samuel), and if you like go and meet Ugwuanyi (Ifeanyi). People think that relationships can be bought with money. 

“Politics is not to go on the pages of newspapers. Politics is not to go and buy slots on television and speak. It is who will deliver at the appropriate time. That is what is key. If you like, abuse me from now until tomorrow, it’s your business.

“What is important is when the time comes, we will know. When the jungle matures, we will know those who can stand the crisis. We will know those who have the capacity to say this is where our state will go. Ikpeazu is one of those governors who has capacity and will decide where the people of Abia state will go.”

Wike also threatened to “flog” those he described as “small boys” and his enemies. 

“God has given me what it takes to crush these people; for me to crush my enemies. I was on the plane with him (Ikpeazu) and we were discussing. He said: ‘why will you not leave these people for God?’ But I told him ‘why are you overcrowding God?’ God has given me what it takes to crush these people — for me to crush my enemies,” he said.

“Now that I know I have the capacity to flog these small boys, you want me to leave it for God? I won’t do that. I am going to flog them ‘pepperly’. When we start campaigning, we will know who is who. 

“Look at what they said. They said your governor (Abia state) is a boy. They said Wike is a boy; Seyi is a boy; Ortom is a boy; Ugwuanyi is a boy. But see what the boys are doing. Tell them that as men, they should show us what they have done, because we say ‘look, agreement is agreement’. You told me you will do this, now it’s time for you to do it, you don’t want to do it. Is it good?”

Iyorchia Ayu, national chairman of the PDP, had recently described those demanding his resignation as children. 

Wike’s camp had asked Ayu to step down — as a precondition for resolving the crisis over Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate.

Ayu came under criticism from party stakeholders after the presidential primary that was held in May.

He had openly described Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto, as the “hero of the convention” after Abubakar was elected as the party’s presidential candidate.

Tambuwal had withdrawn from the race at the last minute and asked his supporters to vote for Abubakar. 

Meanwhile, Wike, who was a contestant in the primary, and his allies, believe that the Sokoto governor’s withdrawal and the latter’s decision to back Abubakar, made the Rivers governor lose the party’s presidential ticket.