I Never Promised To Make Preferred Presidential Candidate Public – Wike

Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike has said he never told the public the method by which he would disclose the presidential candidate to vote for in the February 25 election.

Wike, who stated this yesterday at a campaign rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Port Harcourt, was responding to a statement by former director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside.

Peterside had in the statement challenged the governor to go ahead and name his preferred presidential candidate if he was not afraid of sanctions from the leadership of the PDP.

He said, “You have the guts to tell me I should name my presidential candidate. Are we at the same level? Failure and success, are they the same?

“Look at the man who is always failing every day. He does not understand the activities of G5. I have told most people who don’t know, G5 that we’re fighting is like guerilla warfare. The more you look, the less you see.

“I never told anybody one day, I will bring a camera and announce to you this is who will go. I said I will tell Rivers’ people the candidate they will support. I did not tell you the method of saying it. I did not tell you I will bring live coverage and say it. But Rivers people know.

“Look at this small boy whom I flogged in 2015. I don’t know where they say he comes from – is it Abia or Opobo side, which of the areas? Envy! I flogged him out in 2015.

“He has not recovered from that. He thought they would give him a ticket in 2019, but he didn’t get [it]. They sent him to be NIMASA. Ask him, what did he bring for Rivers’ people?

“You have a position, you cannot help your people, and you’re coming out to open your mouth, simply because you didn’t get (the ticket) and they did not give you a second term to be DG of NIMASA.”