Wike declares Presidency bid, knocks Atiku, Saraki, others

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Sunday, visited Benue State, where he declared his interest in the 2023 presidential race.

He called on National delegates of the Peoples Democratic Party not to sell their votes but consider him.

Wike, who addressed the Party delegates at the Government House, Makurdi, said almost all presidential aspirants from the party were responsible for the party’s defeat in 2015.

In a veiled reference to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, he said some of the presidential aspirants on the platform of the party left the PDP when it mattered most.

He said, “Let these people who are interested in Presidency in PDP tell us their contributions. You claimed to be one of the founding fathers of the party, but you left and came back; you have become ordinary person in the new PDP.

“If you form a company and run away because the company is not doing well, you come back and found that it is now doing well and you want to come and take over”.

The Governor added, “Some people want to use Nigeria to get back their private businesses. Let them mention their private sector that survived. Is it bank that your father had?

“Everybody is an employer of labour. Even me, i have 50 people in my house, so everybody has been employing people  according to his capacity.

“In 2015, most of these people made us (the PDP) to lose the election”.

Wike said he had stood firm for the party through thick and thin, adding that he had contributed immensely to the growth of the PDP.

Wike, who declared his interest in the presidency, appealed to party delegates in Benue state to vote for him during the forthcoming party primary, saying, “Don’t sell your votes, please give me your votes as we go to the primary”.

“If i become president, i will take security as priority because the main purpose of government is protection of lives and property”.