Essential Ndubuisi
Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has declared that he has no personal rift with the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus and 2019 Presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar.
Wike said his primary concern was to salvage the PDP from an impending doom occasioned by inert leadership.
He said: “Everybody believed that whatever the national chairman was doing was dictated by Wike and must have the backing of Wike. I believe when you support somebody, support him to succeed.
“But when things are also going wrong, if you don’t speak out, people will believe you are part of it. Therefore, I owe it as a duty to say things are not going right.”
The governor accused some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) particularly, the National Organising Secretary, Col. Austin Akobundu, of stirring crisis in the party because of his governorship ambition.
He warned that the PDP should be wary of agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC), bent on causing division and destabilising the party.
He said some of the persons causing problems in the party include some former governors and ministers.
The governor said that he did not have problems with the former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar and was not aware if Atiku wanted to contest the presidency in 2023 because PDP has not yet zoned the presidency.
Wike who spoke as a guest on a television programme in Port Harcourt said the resolution of the internal crisis rocking the PDP allayed his initial fear of possible implosion of the party.
He noted that the manner in which PDP governors and Board of Trustee members resolved the crisis had given Nigerians hope that the party was prepared to take over the realms of power from the ruling APC in 2023.
The governor in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Media, Kelvin Ebiri, explained that it was not uncommon for a political party to experience internal squabble in view of the forthcoming poll and varying interests, but commended PDP governors for coming together to speak with one voice to end the differences.
He said: “I use to be afraid of possibility of an implosion and that could have been the end of the party. But what I saw on Monday gave me a lot of confidence for the first time. I have never seen that happen, the way the governors came together and spoke in a convivial manner with no dissenting view. I was impressed.”
