Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who has flung open the doors of his newly built fortress-home in Port Harcourt for some other political parties for consultations, has warned that rumour peddling will not make Abubakar Atiku president in 2023.
Wike said Tuesday, that only mobilisation of the grassroots, the wards, local councils and states can win the presidential election for the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The governor declared as inconsequential the tendency to pledge support for any candidate without evidence of work being done to deliver wards and local council areas of any state.
Wike also said it was the quantum of individual votes from units up to states that would determine victory for Atiku or any other presidential candidate for that matter, and not ability to generate rumours or to mouth support for the candidate.
The governor spoke on Tuesday at the commissioning of the new Government VIP Lounge at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa in Ikwerre Local Government Area, built by the Rivers State Government.
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Governor Wike said it was unfortunate that some politicians now based in Abuja derive pleasure insinuating something against him to curry favour from the PDP presidential candidate, whereas he said he was busy campaigning for the PDP with evidence of work done.
Describing his detractors as rent seekers, the governor said his detractors from his state say ugly things about him in the press and call Atiku to show him what they said against Wike.
He said such campaigners chose to stay in Abuja to claim to campaign for Atiku. Wike said he was rather a practical and practising politician. He thus admonished the detractors that any party that wants to win election cannot be fighting itself. He said it is projects that would win votes for a party.
He made it clear he was not angling to become a minister, but warned he is not a liability, and said; “If you don’t want to win election it is your business.
“I am not running for election. He who wears the shoe knows where it pinches. So, allow Rivers State to continue to do what they are doing by using our projects to campaign to our people,” he said.
Wike explained why his administration built the VIP Lounge at the international airport despite it being and federal project. He commended the contractor that built it.
The governor rather directed the Commissioner for Works to ensure the immediately arrest of a contractor handling a road project for the Rivers State government in Trans Amadi Industrial layout in Port Harcourt.
The governor accused the contractor to have collected 100 percent of the project sum, but has failed to deliver the job.
The Commissioner for Special Projects, Deinma Iyalla, said the edifice serves to market the State positively.
According to him, the entire project comprises of a one storey building that has main lounge, bar, kitchen and administrative section on the ground floor. According to him, on the storey floor, there are Presidential lounge, Governor’s lounge and Executive lounge.
