2019: We’ll woo Tinubu, Kwankwaso, other APC members to join PDP –Gov Wike

Ahead of the 2019 general elections, Rivers State’s Governor Nyesom Wike has said that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, would not mind going as far as wooing former governors of Lagos and Kano states Senator Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso respectively to ensure its return to power.

Wike, who also said that the PDP would not mind wooing other prominent members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), added that it will be immaterial if they decide not to join the PDP after being wooed.

“What is the crime in wooing people? Who told you that we would not woo people like Tinubu and Kwankwaso? You see, whether they will come or not is immaterial. Those that the APC wooed, did they not join the APC?
“Who told you that we would not go and woo prominent APC governors? That does not mean that they will come. All the APC leaders at the National Assembly, were they not PDP people? What is all this trouble about wooing and not wooing?”He said.

The governor stated this in the latest issue of ‘The Interview,’ a monthly magazine. He further vowed that he and Rivers people would do everything to ensure PDP emerges victorious in the state come 2019 election.

“The whole thing boils down to sincerity and commitment. We said if things would not happen, all of us would go down with it. That was the driving spirit for us and that is what we are going to repeat in 2019.

“If the Federal Government is going to kill all of us, so be it. Because we know what they have planned and their strategies and so when it is time, we will face the APC squarely in this state. Just watch,” he said.

On why former President Goodluck Jonathan lost the 2015 elections, Wike said he was surrounded by insincere people, especially his ministers.

While he described Jonathan as a gentleman who condoned too many things, including being stoned during his campaigns in some northern states, Wike said if he were to be Jonathan that he would clamp down on the people even if it will lead to Nigeria breaking up.

“God gave every leader his strength and way of doing things. You see, I will not accept that. Let the heavens fall. If Nigeria was going to end on that day, let it end. I will not take what he took. That is why I respect the man a lot. I will not take that.

“If Nigeria will come down that day, let it come down. I mean, what is it? He was President and you were throwing stones at him? No single respect for that office? And you tell me to accept it? No, I will clamp down on you,” he said.

The governor also argued that the fact that none of the people who stoned Jonathan were neither arrested nor prosecuted was a clear indication that some northern elements, including the ones in the PDP, sabotaged Jonathan’s campaign.

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Asked if he supported the action of a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, who attempted to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, from announcing the results of the 2015 presidential election, he said yes.

“I did. Of course, why not? You saw clear rigging. I don’t like a system where you see something is going wrong and you keep quiet,” Wike answered.

On if he had regrets helping the ousted chairman of the PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff, to emerge as the party chairman since his emergence almost destroyed the party, Wike said that he never knew that Sheriff was “an agent of darkness.”
He added, “Why should I regret? I am not a coward. I am not one of those that takes decisions and goes back to say I am not part of that decision.”

 

 

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