Nyesom Wike has squashed insinuations that he will join the Progressives Congress (APC), taking a swipe at governors who defected to the ruling party.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has in recent months witnessed a wave of defections, raising concerns about the party’s viability. Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State moved to the APC this week, less than two months after his Cross River counterpart Ben Ayade dumped the PDP for the ruling party. Three PDP senators also confirmed their defection to the APC on Wednesday.
But Wike, the governor of oil-rich Rivers State and a strong critic of the APC, maintains that it is unthinkable for him to leave the main opposition party.
“It is not something to be discussed. How would any Nigerian feel that tomorrow I am discussing with the APC?” the governor asked when he featured on Channels Television’s current affairs programme Politics Today on Thursday.
He scolded governors and other members of the PDP who have joined the country’s leading party for being fearful and intimidated by the APC, insisting the APC has nothing on offer for him to move to its camp. The defectors, he claimed, had no reason to join another party.
“This people, because of one thing or the other, are trying to hide their inadequacies and inefficiencies and ensure that the government protects them. And they are always afraid,” Wike, a former minister of education explained, scolding the federal government of “fighting” Rivers State.
