28th June, 2020
By Okafor Ofiebor
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike on Sunday said he was not nursing ambition of running for the office of the President of Nigeria.
Governor Wike made the clarification when he appeared as a Guest on Arise Television.
The governor said speculations linking him to presidential ambition were mere distractions.
“Right now, I am focusing on delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of Rivers state.
“Recall that in 2018 and 2019 when I was supporting my friend Aminu Waziri Tambulwal, it was speculated in the media that I was going to run with him. That was my first tenure and I had not even completed it and they wanted me to give that away.
“To clear every speculation, let me state that I am not going to run for the office of the president of Nigeria for now. I am concentrating on developing Rivers state.
“I am not a party to anybody saying that the problems in PDP is about 2023.
“That can be the problem in APC because it is the ruling party. This is the last tenure of Mr. president and he is going. So, people are hustling to take over from him within his party.
“PDP has nothing to do with that because the way it is now, we are taking over from nothing.
“Now, I just started my second tenure and you’re talking about the presidency. When that enters anybody’s head then that person will not be able to provide the dividends of democracy to the people. And that is the problem you see in APC because everybody is thinking of taking over from the President instead of concentrating to do their work.
“They don’t even know the minds of Nigerians. But because of the kind of politics we have, people feel since Mr. President is leaving, they do not want his party to lose out.
“How will someone in an opposition party begin to contemplate running for presidency when I still have time to provide things for my state,” he said.
Commenting on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s aspiration to contest for the presidency again, Governor Wike said it was a fundamental right that could not be denied.
He however, said it was too early to determine who will fly the presidential flag of PDP because the focus was on how to get the party more organised in order to secure more political seats.
“I am not interested in who wants to run for now. I am more interested that PDP should become more organised.
“Let us get more political seats. When the time comes, we will all sit down as a party to decide on who will fly the flag”, the governor maintained.