Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has made it clear that he will not join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or work for its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 general elections, Daily Independent exclusively gathered.
A key associate of the governor, who spoke with Daily Independent on Thursday, said while Wike has insisted that he will not support Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he has also made it clear that he will have nothing to do with the APC over their choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Wike and his loyalists are currently up in arms against Atiku who announced Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate in June.
“The governor has made it clear that he is a foundation member of the PDP and he will not leave it for any other party. The possibility of his joining the ruling party (APC) is completely ruled out.
He has made it clear to us that aside the fact that the APC is a failed party, he finds the Muslim-Muslim ticket being paraded in the 2023 presidential election repulsive and will not be a part of it”.
On why Wike has been inviting APC leaders to his project commissioning in Rivers while snubbing PDP leaders, he said the governor is unhappy with some leaders in the PDP who have failed to tell Atiku the truth. “The governor is not somebody who hides his feelings.
If Wike wants to fight you, he doesn’t hide behind somebody to do so. Clearly, he is unhappy with some leaders of the PDP for not speaking the truth to Atiku, especially by condemning the interview he granted recently which further worsened an already bad situation in the party.
“But I think he has the right to invite whoever he desires to the state to commission projects.
He has friends both in PDP, APC and other political parties, so I don’t think any meaning should be read into that”.