2023: I won't be Atiku's VP, Wike breaks silence, says power must shift

By Dansu Peter 

“Please, discountenance anything you’re seeing and hearing; all those social media posts. The South will make a statement very soon. It is not about you’ll be vice president to this or that.”

The above was a quote credited to the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, according to Punch Newspaper; contrary to viral social media post which say the governor has been picked by former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. 

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike yesterday insisted that it was the turn of the South to provide the party’s standard-bearer in the election, the Punch Newspaper report. 

Wike, speaking to PDP stakeholders at the Government House in Port Harcourt yesterday, warned against undermining the interest of the South whenever the opposition party decides the choice of its presidential standard-bearer.

He added: “Nigerians will know that we are not joking. People take the South for granted, saying that they are not together. No problems. If we didn’t know yesterday, today, we know.

“We are assets. We are not a liability. When we say we are going to support the party, we support the party with everything we have. We are not in America where you do television campaigns.

“When we come out, we will choke them. They know it. So, everybody should relax, let the south do their homework and then they’ll make a proper statement.”

He said those planning to use money to overwhelm the internal democracy and buy off the ticket would be disappointed.

He said: “What is necessary is how the party must be cohesive, to make sure that the party gets it right.”

He criticised PDP Chieftain Dr. Raymond Dokpesi who is rooting for Atiku, saying: “With all due respect. If we follow the kind of statement that Dokpesi is making every day, by now, the party would have been destroyed. But, we say no.”

The governor said those calling for the PDP to jettison zoning of elective offices were doing that for selfish and personal interests that do not reflect the true spirit of federalism.

He added: “I stand on Southern Governors Forum decision on zoning. I was at the meeting where it was decided that zoning should come to the South and we took that decision together. I cannot go against that stand.”

According to him, it will be unfair for the presidential ticket to go to the North as the zone had produced the party chairman in the person of Senator Iyorcha Ayu.