One of the leaders of the aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), popularly called ‘G5’, Governor Nyesom Wike, on Thursday said that the 2023 presidential election which produced Bola Tinubu as president-elect, was about the protection of the unity of Nigeria and Rivers State sided with those patriots of national inclusivity to support southern presidency.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that speaking at Eneka in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area (LGA), venue of the inauguration of Eneka-Igbo Etche Link Road, Governor Wike thanked his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai and the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors for their stance on power shift to the south.
Governor Wike said it is natural justice that the presidency move to the south since the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, who hails from the north was just concluding its eight years tenure in office.
“Your Excellency, let me use the opportunity to thank you immensely and members of your team, particularly you governors from the north under the All Progressives Congress, APC.
“When it matters most in this country, when Nigerians were talking about unity; how this country will be united and progressive, people like you came out boldly and spoke out that for the unity of this country.
“It is important that the presidency having stayed in the north for eight years should move to the south and you stood firm. You were not personal about it because what you were talking about was the interest of Nigeria,” Wike said.
Governor Wike stated that those from the north who supported southern presidency would have, instead, used their numerical strength to oppress the rest of the country and thwarted the quest for southern presidency, but they did not do such.
His words: “You (el-Rufai) would have, as well, coming from a zone that is highly populated, said this is my second tenure, I’m leaving, I’m going to throw in my weight to contest for the presidential election, but you said no, let it move to the south.
“So, I want to use this opportunity to thank you on behalf of the government and people of Rivers State. The unity of Nigeria matters and I assure you that history will be on your side tomorrow when unity of Nigeria will be discussed.”
Governor Wike explained that in Rivers State, the resolve to support southern presidency was not compromised and the election results are evidence of such support in the spirit of equity, justice and defence of the unity of Nigeria.
“Here, (Rivers) we supported the president from the south. I don’t want to say who we voted for, the results shows. I don’t know who took first, I don’t know who took second. But it is important to know that the people of the State supported the southern presidency,” he said.
