Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has given reasons why he threw his weight behind the presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Labour Party (LP), flag bearer, Peter Obi, in the run up to the February 25 presidential election.
According to him, he did what he did, because he is an “apostle of power shift to the south.”
Wike who made the assertion on Monday at the commissioning of the Chokocho-Igbodo Road in Etche local government area of the state, said he owed nobody an apology for “supporting the rotation of power to the south after the eight-year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari who is from the North-West geopolitical zone.
“I owe nobody any apology at all. I am one of the apostles, one of those who stood firm that power must rotate to the South. This is for equity, this is for fairness and this is for justice,” the Governor said.
“Whether you voted for Labour, I have no problem with you. Whether you voted for APC, I have no problem with you. That is what we have argued for: that the north has had it for eight years. Therefore the south must be there for eight years.
“As far as I am concerned, anybody from south, that is my position. That is what we agreed in the Integrity Group that we must make sure that the south emerges as the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Each time I went for campaign, nobody has ever heard me criticise Obi. Nobody has ever heard me criticize Asiwaju. I owe nobody any apology that people voted southern presidency,” he added.
Giving reasons why he refused to support his party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Wike said the party’s constitution recognised zoning and rotational presidency, but the leadership of the party contravened the provisions of the party’s regulations.
