Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike on Saturday hinted that governors in the southern region are planning to make a definitive statement concerning the 2023 general elections.
Southern governors had last year jointly said the presidency should come to the south, a statement which their counterparts in the north rebuked as unconstitutional.
However, speaking at a ceremony where he was decorated with a traditional title by the Kalabari people at Abalama School field in Asari Toru Local Government Area, Wike said “Nigeria will shake” when the south speaks concerning the future of the country.
“The day the south will speak, Nigeria will shake. We believe in the unity of this country, but nobody can threaten us. Nobody should threaten us. We believe in the unity of Nigeria and unity of Nigeria must continue,” Wike was quoted as saying by his spokesman Kelvin Ebiri in a statement.
Wike also noted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will not give its presidential ticket to any candidate who will serve only the interest of the wealthy few in Nigeria.
The governor said some desperate politicians are already scheming for a candidate who will not serve the interest of the many, rather the interest of just those of the wealthy few.
“No amount of gang up can make PDP to give somebody who will want to run election for the interest of some big men, and not for all Nigerians,” he said.
“Anybody who wants to be candidate of PDP must be candidate for the interest of Nigerians.”
He expressed concerns over the fact that some companies in the country continue to post annual financial profits regularly in a downing national economy to the detriment of the poor.
Wike opined that such profits, invariably, shared only by the rich, make them to get richer, while the majority of the population of the country, who are poor, gets poorer.
In his welcome address, chairman of Rivers State Elders Forum, Ferdinand Anabraba explained that the grand reception is significant for two reasons; of its critical importance to them as a people and also because of the unity of purpose engendered among them under Wike’s administration.
He said it is that kind of reception organised for prominent sons and friends who have impacted the Kalabari people.
