Angered by rejection of Port Harcourt, Wike questions PDP presidential aspirants commitment to restructuring

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has questioned the commitment of presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who are opposed to holding the National Convention of the party in Port Harcourt, to their campaign for restructuring.

The governor, who is obviously angry by the opposition of some of the aspirants to having the October 5 and 6 convention held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, described them as people who are against the economic interest of the state and Niger Delta.

According to him, such aspirants are also not living up to their campaign for the restructuring of the country.

It will be recalled that some aspirants of the party have been reported to be opposed to the Port Harcourt venue while others have endorsed it.

The governor, who described the opposition to Port Harcourt as strange, said there was no other way to explain such cold feeling towards holding the convention in Port Harcourt apart from the fact that the aspirants involved had no economic interest of Rivers and Niger Delta at heart.

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He said: “Those who are against the PDP convention holding in Port Harcourt don’t have the the economic interest of Rivers and Niger Delta at heart.

“If you are telling the people of the state and by extension Niger Delta that you don’t want such event to hold in their domain as an aspirant, how will you act when you become a president? How do you expect the people you are telling that you don’t like their state to vote for you during the election?

“Why are they not acting in tandem with their campaign for the restructuring of Nigeria? From their opposition to Port Harcourt, it means the restructuring campaign is a mere lip service”.

Wike however promised that all the aspirants will enjoy a level playing field, insisting that the choice of Port Harcourt is not meant to give any aspirant an edge over others.

“Every aspirant will be given a level playing field. That it is holding in Port Harcourt does not mean anybody will have undue advantage. What it will do for the State is that it will boost its local economy because groundnut, sachet water sellers and food vendors will have more sales. Hoteliers will also record increased business. That is the only thing Rivers State stands to gain from the holding of the convention in Port Harcourt. And anybody who is against PortHarcourt hosting the event does not like the state. He is against the economic interest of the state”.

 

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