Rivers State’s PDP on same page with Gov Wike on 2023 presidential election – Nwogu

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Rivers State’s PDP on same page with Gov Wike on 2023 presidential election – Nwogu

Honourable Kelechi Nwogu, a Rivers State House of Assembly member, representing Omuma State Constituency has declared that Rivers State People Democratic Party members have taken their decision to stand with their governor, Nyesom Wike, on which way to go in the 2023 presidential election.

He was emphatic in a chat with our reporter that whatever their leader, Wike decides is in the interest of the Rivers people and the PDP family in the State would toe the line.

“Leadership, they say, is the ability to show people the way to go and go the same way with them, regardless of the encumbrances that may be encountered. For us as Rivers people, we have a leader whose words can be taken to the bank and whose directives cannot be jettisoned by a true member of the PDP. On several fora, our leader, Chief Barr. Nyesom Wike has made his position known to Nigerians and the whole world that Rivers people would not support any presidential candidate that takes them for granted,” he said.

“It is pertinent to state here, without mincing words, that the position of Governor Wike on Presidential election is the same with every true member of the PDP in Rivers State. In due time, the Governor shall speak to us as to where to channel our political will because we have a very strong political will. As it stands, we are busy letting Rivers people know about Sir Siminialayi Fubara popularly known as SIM, who would take over as the Governor of Rivers State in 2023. It is also important that I use this medium to buttress the call for the resignation of the National Chairman of the PDP in the interest of peace and equity,” he added.

It would be recalled that before the PDP primary election in Abuja, in late May, Wike had pledged to support whoever emerged as the party’s flag bearer. He also assured me he wouldn’t leave the party, regardless of what happened.

Wike was looking very good to emerge to fly the party’s flag going by his political muscle. Sadly for him, his colleague from Sokoto State, Governor Aminu Tambuwal withdrew from the race and urged his delegate supporters to vote for Atiku. This won the battle for the ex-vice President.

The Rivers Governor felt hard done by with Atiku’s victory in the primaries, but his ego was bruised when his neighbour in the South-South was picked to be the vice presidential candidate.
Wike’s insistence on Ayu’s removal

Asides from other grievances that sprang up in the aftermath of the emergence of both Atiku and Okowa, Wike has admitted that his main rancour with PDP leadership is the failure of the party’s national chair, Senator Iyorchia Ayu to resign.

He claimed that there was an agreement during the zoning debate that both the presidential candidate and the national chairman cannot come from the same region.

Since Atiku is from the North, Ayu cannot remain as the PDP helmsman because he also hails from the North. Notwithstanding the resignation of Walid Jibrin as the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT), Wike insists Ayu must go. Amid this, members of the National Executive Council (NEC) passed a vote of confidence on Ayu. As much as Ayu remains as PDP chairman, Wike cannot work for and with Atiku.

Hon Nwogu is a member of the People’s Democratic Party. He was first elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly in 2011 to represent Omuma State Constituency. He succeeded Hon. Emmanuel Okatta. He was re-elected in 2015 and 2019. He had aspired for the 2019 Peoples Democratic Party’s House of Representatives ticket for the Etche/Omuma Federal Constituency 2019, but later withdrew for the eventual winner Chief Ephraim Nwuzi.

In the assembly, Nwogu at various times chaired the house committees on sports (2011) and local government and chieftaincy affairs (2015 and 2019). He has equally sponsored and co-sponsored many bills and moved motions as a member of the State House of Assembly.