Wike welcomed hundreds of defectors from APC to the PDP amidst face-off with party leadership

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on Saturday welcomed hundreds of defectors from the All Progressives Congress to the Peoples Democratic Party.

Those at the event in Port Harcourt, the state capital, include PDP Chairman in Rivers, Desmond Akawor; former Board of Trustees’ member of the APC, Sam-Sam Jaja; ex-Commissioner for Sports, Fred Igwe; and hundreds of their supporters.

Other former APC members who defected are Sylver Opusunju, Tele Bethram Ikuru, Princewill Dike, Reginald Onwuka, Bestman Amadi, Amadi Nnokam, Muma Gift, Kennedy Ebeku.

According to the governor, his primary responsibility is to ensure that all candidates in Rivers are elected next year.

“Rivers State is paramount to me first before any other person or any other group,” Wike said.

He stated, “Politicians are (made) at home. I have changed the strategy of this election – no more big men. I am going for those who matter in their various units.

“All those who are decamping are those who you will not be hearing their names but they are the people who do the work. So, we have been plucking them back and all those so-called big men are threatened.”

Meanwhile, Governor Wike on Saturday said no vote of confidence can save the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iyorchia Ayu, just as the assurance tool passed by the party’s National Executive Committee in April 2021 failed to save Ayu’s predecessor, Uche Secondus.

“I was listening, watching, they said there is one man they call Secondus. They said he was dancing, celebrating that NEC gave their person a vote of confidence.

“He (Secondus) forgets history that the same NEC through Aliyu Babangida who moved a motion for a vote of confidence supported by the same person – Ndudi Elumelu. They gave him a vote of confidence, what happened? He left office,” Wike said in Port Harcourt on Saturday when he received hundreds of defectors from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP in the oil-rich state.

Wike and Secondus are said to be kinsmen but a feud had thwarted their relationship last year and the Rivers governor had demanded his resignation as PDP chairman. Secondus’ tenure was later truncated last August when a court sacked him.

Speaking on Saturday, Wike challenged Secondus to come back to Rivers to mobilise support for the PDP ahead of the 2023 elections and insisted that Ayu must exit the chairmanship of the party for a southerner.

The governor said, “We don’t fight and go back. If you like, you can have as many votes of confidence, it is not my business; my business is to make sure the right thing is done and the right thing must be done whether today or tomorrow.

“So, let nobody worry himself. If you are dancing, come home and dance, come and mobilise for the party you think that will election. I am here waiting for him. No more 419 in this game. Enough is enough.

“We are only waiting for INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) for them to blow the whistle. When they blow the whistle, we will know those who are in charge of Rivers State and those who are mere visitors to the state.”