Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has further reviewed and increased the number of his special assistants to 50,000.
The governor had in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, announced the appointment of 28,000 special assistants and 359 local government and ward liaison officers.
LEADERSHIP Friday observed that the number of recent appointments by the governor was outside the 14,000 special assistants he made last Tuesday.
Wike, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday by his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri, said all the appointments take immediate effect.
This is even as the governor has declared that nobody can convince him to change his stance that the PDP should yield its national chairman position to Southern Nigeria.
He regretted that his effort towards amicable resolution of the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been frustrated by rent seekers in the party.
Wike spoke on Wednesday night when he hosted Cross River State PDP governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives, House of Assembly candidates and PDP local government party chairmen at his private residence in Rumueprikom, Port Harcourt.
At the meeting, which was attended by the party’s South-South national vice chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, Wile explained that the seeming intractable crisis in the party had lingered because some vested interests, who he described as “hyenas and rent seekers,” have remained obstinate and averse to justice, fairness and equity in the party.
He said, “We have finished presidential primaries, we have a presidential candidate. Is Wike saying remove presidential candidate? Is Wike saying remove vice presidential candidate?
“So, what are you begging me for? All I am saying, and I will continue to say is that ;you have taken president. Give us (national) chairman’.
“Nobody wants to speak the truth. If I am saying remove the presidential candidate, if I am saying remove the vice presidential candidate, then you will say why is he doing this?”
The governor maintained that he cannot be convinced to support the current status quo whereby the PDP presidential candidate, national chairman and the director general of the presidential campaign council are all from the North.
He warned that refusal to cede the national chairman position to the South will be a recipe for crisis.
“He (national chairman) said if the presidential candidate comes from the north, he will resign, which means he has had this in mind. Now, the thing has come to reality; resign, no. And people are saying go and talk to Wike.
“I have accepted the presidential candidate, I have accepted the vice presidential candidate, what’s the problem again. You fulfil your part; let the South have something, that is all I’m preaching. You cannot have presidential candidate, national chairman, director-general of the campaign.”
The governor said it is hypocritical for some people in the PDP to criticise Muslim/Muslim ticket, while supporting that a particular region of the country should retain the presidency for another eight years.
He insisted that for the sake of holistic peace, PDP should adhere to the tenets of its constitution, which explicitly recommends that when a presidential candidate emerges from the North, the national chairman should be from the South.
Wike said the clamour for the chairman of the PDP to be zoned to the South will persist until justice, fairness and equity prevail in the PDP.
The governor said, “This is a period that power game is being played. If you don’t have it now, forget it. If anybody tells you, ‘let (Iyorchia) Ayu resign after election is conducted’, then you are a foolish person.
“This is the time decision is being made. This is the time the presidential candidate, national chairman and the leader of campaign will sit, when election is won in February, before the president is sworn in, decisions would have been made.”
He disclosed that he has commenced full blown politicking ahead of the 2023 general election, adding that those who want to undermine him and his allies will be doing so at their own peril.
Wike thanked Cross River PDP delegates for the support given to him during the presidential primary, saying he will remain eternally grateful to them and all the other delegates that voted for him.
The governor said, “If there is nothing I achieved, I can go home and sleep that I won Cross River State. Not only did I win; I won very well. I feel so happy and that tells you of people who have character of steadfastness.
“People who will never be pushed around for whatever it is. People who believe in the principles of life, people who believe in fairness, justice and equity.”
He stated that the visit will spur him to continue to support the party in Cross River ahead of the 2023 general election, just as he announced a donation of 25 buses to the party.
Wike said, “This visit will spur me the more to give you support. I am not coming to Cross River to vote, but you are my friends. I have a right to support you.”
Speaking earlier, Cross River PDP governorship candidate, Senator Sandy Onor, who led the delegation, said governor Wike has remained a trail blazer for justice, fairness and equity.
He stressed that no living person in the contemporary history of the PDP has made more sacrifice for the party than governor Wike.
Onor commended governor Wike for his steadfast support to the party in Cross River, adding that the intent of the visit was to express their profound gratitude for his unparalleled benevolence.
Similarly, the senator representing Cross River north, senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, noted that without governor Wike’s support, PDP would have been extinct in the State.
On his part, the Cross River State PDP chairman, Venatius Ikem, thanked g’Governor Wike for his unrelenting support to the party.
PDP Won’t Accept Questionable Votes From Inaccessible Areas – Ayu
Meanwhile, the national chairman of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has said the party would no longer accept questionable harvests of votes from inaccessible areas.
He further counselled the All Progressives Congress-led federal government against compromising the integrity of the 2023 general election, declaring that the nation’s major opposition party does not want to be short-changed again.
A statement by special adviser to the national chairman on media and communications, Simon Imobo-Tswam, quited Ayu as stating this yesterday while receiving the European Union Election Exploratory Mission to Nigeria led by Mrs Mette Bakken at the PDP national headquarters.
The PDP national chairman called on the European Union to send a high-level and large-sized observer mission to Nigeria to observe and monitor the 2023 general elections, especially given that Nigeria is a very populous country with a very large landmass.
He said, “We are prepared as a party to do the needful as far as the 2023 general elections are concerned. But we are worried about the tendency and capacity of the State to manipulate the critical technologies to our disadvantage. We need to pay close attention so that we are not short-changed again.
“There are security challenges in some states, I think six or so states. We hope government will stamp out the insecurity there early enough for elections to be held there with transparent outcomes. We will no longer accept questionable harvests of votes from inaccessible areas.
“In the past, those were areas where the ruling APC did what they love doing best: bringing votes that subverted the will of the people. Even though we are going to police our votes, it’s important that the EU sends a large number of observers ahead of the elections.”
Ayu continued, “We need a large EU Observer Mission here. We don’t want token missions. This is because Nigeria is such a big country, with some states being bigger than some EU Member-States. And we need, among the observers, people with technical capacities too. Election-observation has shifted from manual to technology. You need to keep talking to government and critical stakeholders so that the APC does not subvert the democratic will.
“We appreciate the efforts of the EU and thank the Observer Missions for their continued interest in the democratization process in Nigeria which is close to 25 years. We want the world to know that what is happening in Nigeria is democratic, transparent and credible.”
Although Ayu said the PDP was prepared for the 2023 general elections and was ready to police the positive outcomes, he expressed fears that the elections might be compromised, with the ruling APC bearing undue pressures on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
His words: “We do not want to be short-changed again. We believe we won the presidency in the 2019 general elections. We were injured in 2019, and we don’t want a second injury in 2023.”
On whether freedom of expression was being stifled, Ayu said: “To the best of my knowledge, Nigerians are very vibrant people. Even under military rule, we spoke our minds. It was through the process of speaking our minds that we formed this political party to make sure that the military handed over power.”
He added, “So, it is impossible to suppress the freedom of expression in Nigeria. The freedom space is still open. What the government in power is doing is denying us access to public spaces to hold our rallies. Even our convention, we had to navigate and put pressure before we got a venue here in Abuja. That must stop.”
Earlier, the leader of the mission, Mrs. Bakken said the EU Mission was in Nigeria to interface with relevant government bodies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs); and, in line with the EU Methodology, look at the possibility of deploying EU Observer Mission for the scheduled 2023 general elections.
Apart from Bakken, who is of the Democracy and Electoral Observation Division, (European Action External Service), other members of the EU delegation include Frederick Schumman and Kairi Kasmann, both of the European Commission Foreign Policy Instrument.
Members of the Exploratory Mission, who arrived Nigeria on October 10, 22 will be on ground till October 15, 2022.
We’ve got the edge. Get real-time reports, breaking scoops, and exclusive angles delivered straight to your phone. Don’t settle for stale news. Join LEADERSHIP NEWS on WhatsApp for 24/7 updates →
Join Our WhatsApp Channel
