SEQUEL to rumours making the rounds in some quarters, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Tuesday, said it would not engage in a vendetta against the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, if its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, wins Saturday’s presidential election.
Spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Charles Aniagwu who made the clarification while briefing newsmen in Asaba, said; “Atiku will be bothered about his recovery plans, rather than chasing those, who in their democratic rights, opposed his ambition.”
Saying that vendetta was not part of the manifesto of Atiku and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, he said Atiku knew from the onset that not everybody would support his presidential ambition.
He said Wike is a selfish politician for “asking the people of Rivers to vote for those who would protect and not those who will add value to the life of the people in the state.
“But let me assure him that Atiku is not contesting this election for vendetta when he wins. Atiku is a democrat, and he knew that when he set out to contest this election, not everybody would agree with him, and Nyesom Wike is one of the very few that has not agreed with Atiku’s ambition.”
Aniagwu who is also the Commissioner for Information in Delta State said; “if elected, Atiku and his vice, Okowa will be busy on how to bring unity to the country and make it a prosperous nation.
“Atiku wants to bring unity, he wants to bring back the jobs, he wants to develop all parts of this country including Rivers State.
“Atiku is interested in education that works for all, he is interested in bringing back security so that we can sleep with both eyes closed and dream dreams of positive development.
“Atiku is not contesting just because he wants to go about vendetta, Atiku wants to bring about development in Nigeria.
“So we want Wike to be rest assured that Atiku and Okowa are in this election to address the many challenges confronting our country.
“If Wike thinks that he has continued to insult everybody or that he has continued to undermine the party that brought him to power, and think everybody is like him that is hounding everybody in Rivers, that is not in the DNA of Atiku”.
While faulting Governor Nyesom Wike for claiming that Atiku and PDP met with those who have no stake in Rivers State, he said the Rivers Governor has continued to lay landmines to ensure that the PDP does not campaign in the state.
Aniagwu said; “he is quarreling why are we meeting the people of Rivers outside Rivers State, and claiming that those persons are not Rivers people.
“We met critical stakeholders in Rivers State who we believe are able to talk to our equally important stakeholders for them to appreciate that Atiku is with them but Wike has made it practically impossible for us to come in and campaign.
“And because we do believe that if we exercise our fundamental rights and proceed to Rivers, giving his disposition, he could take steps that would undermine the survival of a number of persons which we are not ready to do because we had made it clear that our ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian irrespective of how lowly placed that Nigerian is.
“We do know that our people in Rivers are very clear that Atiku means well. If Wike, out of selfishness, has continued to deploy the resources of Rivers to insult everybody rather than develop the state, Atiku will not take that path.
“We will by the grace of God, embark on the process of recovery, development of this country, embark on process that would make every Nigerian including our brothers and sisters in Rivers to indeed feel that they are Nigerians.
“Wike lack democratic credentials by the way he is muscling those opposed to his political views”, appealing to Nigerians not to make the mistake of voting for those who would curtail their freedom.
“Wike claims that he is very much on the ground in Rivers, yet he does not want people to hold meetings even in hotels; he does not want people to hoist billboards, he does not want people to print ordinary posters.
“For Wike who does not allow anybody who disagrees with him to hold meetings, if he becomes part of the national government, it means freedom will take flight.
“We must elect those who will protect our freedom. We are going to involve all Nigerians in the government of this country as long as they can get the job done.
“So long as they have got the ability to work, we will take people from APC, LP, those not in political parties, and those in diaspora because this country belongs to all of us, it is only a privilege we are seeking to govern and we will not take that privilege to mean that others are not important.
“Every Nigerian should vote for freedom and that freedom will not come from those who do not believe in democratic principless. Atiku-Okowa is that ticket that will make the difference and that is why we are pleading with Nigerians to give us the mandate.
“Wike and those who may belong to his class reasoning that vendetta is part of our agenda, what we have is how to recover Nigeria. So if he feels he has done so many things against the law, let him go and do the right thing.
“But for his position on this election, we will not, if given the opportunity to govern this country, begin to question his choice because democratically he is allowed to make that choice.
“But he should stop behaving like a motor park tout, let him behave like a governor otherwise he is subjecting the institution of the governor to a laughing stock.
“He should know that as a governor there is a way he should behave. He should stop wasting the money of Rivers in organising live coverage to haul insult on people.
“We are aware that before the election, he will organise another live coverage to bring up spurious allegations because he is too scared of Atiku victory”.
