Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike says mass defection will rock both the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, between now and December, as politicians realign ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The governor said although defection was an inherent part of the democratic process, those who defected from the PDP lacked integrity and character.
He stated this at the inauguration of reconstructed William Jumbo, Ernest Ikoli, Eleme , Akassa , Abana and Mbiama streets in Old Government Residential Area of Port Harcourt on Wednesday night.
“People are defecting; More will defect. Defection is part of our electoral process. As you are defecting, people are coming in. There are those who are angry there (in APC), they’ll come (to PDP). You that are angry here (in PDP), you will go. That is the game.”
The governor stressed that insinuation that some governors and others who had defected from PDP to APC were being intimidated, was not tenable.
He maintained that those who had decided to jump ship lacked conscience, character and integrity.
“If it is by provocation, if it is by intimidation, if it is by coercion, then Rivers State won’t have been in PDP. Because, if there is one state that has been intimidated, if there is one state that has been punished by the ruling party, it is Rivers State. Yet nobody can push us, nobody can intimidate us to leave the hope and the future of this country, and that is the PDP.”
He remarked that those who claimed PDP had been unfair to them should also realise that the party had at different times wronged Rivers State, which accounted for its highest votes since 1999.
He said but despite that, the state remained steadfast and committed to the ideals of the PDP.
“PDP has done a lot of wrong things to the Rivers State, but I cannot say we will leave PDP. We will be there and fight the war. The interest of Rivers State will be fought inside PDP, we will not leave anywhere.
“Even if the whole states abandon PDP, Rivers State will not abandon PDP because we are people of integrity, we are people of character. Anybody who does not have integrity, who does not have character cannot say he is from Rivers State.”
The governor observed that it was worrisome that some prominent members of the PDP who were aspiring to be presidential and vice presidential candidates, had remained mute instead of speaking out against the mal-administration that had characterised the APC led federal government.
Governor Wike dismissed President Muhammadu Buhari’s assertion that the reason why Zamfara State governor, Bello Muhammad Matawalle, defected to the APC was because of the good things happening in the party.
According to him, APC had wrecked Nigeria and those defecting from PDP were leaving a party that offerred hope to one that offerred Nigerians none.
