The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has accused some Peoples Democratic Party governors of betraying an earlier agreement for the presidency to return to the south.
According to him these governors ganged up with some individuals in the party to derail the move to return power to the south.
Wike said it was agreement of the governors of southern Nigeria that the presidency should come to the South, and he did not betray that agreement.
Speaking at a reception organised by the Rivers people on Monday in Port Harcourt to welcome him back from Abuja after the PDP presidential primary, described as shameful, the inability of some of those who were part of the agreement to stick to the agreement when it mattered.
The Rivers State Governor accused them of selling out and frustrating the collective efforts that would have secured the PDP presidential ticket by him for the South.
He said: “I contested in an election (primary) based on the principle and agreement with all southern governors and leaders of the South that presidency should go to the South this period.
“We have done our part. We never betrayed anybody because it is not in our blood to betray. But it is a shame to those people, some of the governors from the South, they are the people that were used to sabotage our course.”
Governor Wike said it was disheartening that some governors from the South, due to their inordinate ambition, could jettison the collective interest of the people they claimed to represent.
“Look at a region ganged up, then you, your region cannot gang up. You became tools to be used against the interest of your people, and you think you have won, you have lost.
“You will continue to be perpetual slaves. Rivers people, you don’t need to bother yourselves. The PDP needs us. If they say they don’t need us, they should wait,” he added.
The governor explained that he was propelled into the race to offer service and advance the interest of Nigeria, adding that in the process, he was confronted by a few individuals who wanted somebody they would control and he declined to be such a puppet.
“The winner (of the ticket) also saw it. They underrated us, but now, they will not underrate us again. We have all it takes to do whatever we want to do.
“It is a matter of you being firm, it is a matter of you being hopeful. There is nobody that is born greater than us in this country, therefore, we cannot answer second-class citizen. We can’t.
“We just used this one to tell them that enough is enough. We made them not sleep. We made them not eat. We made all of them from wherever they said they come from to know that there is somebody who can take them on.
“This country does not belong to one particular zone. If people are afraid of talking it is their business. I cannot be a second-class citizen in my country”.
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