Don’t pledge loyalty to PDP NWC – Wike tells lawmakers-elect

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has asked the recently-elected members of the National Assembly in the state not to pledge loyalty to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP National Working Committee after their inauguration.

Wike stated this when the PDP lawmakers-elect visited him to present their certificates of return.

According to the Rivers governor, the party’s leadership did not contribute to the success of their elections, therefore, the lawmakers must only be concerned about the unity of the country and the interest of Rivers state.

Wike said he is optimistic that the PDP in the state will perform well in the next election as it did in the February 25 polls, even as more groups endorse the party for the March 18 election.

His comments come few hours after he swiped the campaign team of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over their protest of the outcome of the February 25 poll.

Recall that Atiku came second in the keenly contested presidential election, polling 6,984,520 votes, while winner Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) got 8,794,726 votes.

On Monday, the former Vice President led a “black uniform” protest to the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja that also included the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu; and Atiku’s running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa.

After INEC’s declaration of Tinubu as the President-elect last Thursday, Atiku slammed the conduct of the elections, saying the umpire’s inability to upload results on the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) is a “rape of democracy.”

Mocking the PDP leaders at the commissioning of Igwuruta internal roads in the Ikwerre Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, Wike said, “I won three of the Senate seats – three over three. Ask them, did they win three over three? You cannot win!” 

“I told them; they said they would conspire against me. Those who said they’ll conspire against me are those wearing black. I am wearing white and they’re wearing black.”

He however denies being involved in any anti-party activity, saying he fought for the unity of the country.

According to him, the alleged anti-party actions belong to “them at the national level in PDP.”

Wike noted that nothing could be  “more anti-party” than party members abandoning the provisions of their constitution that talk about zoning of elective and appointive offices.

He said, “[Between] you that refused to obey the constitution of your party because of impunity, because you think you have the number, you refused to obey the provisions of the constitution of your party;

“…and we that say Nigeria must be one, Nigeria must be united, Nigeria must work for our people, [and] let everybody have hope, who committed anti-party [activities]? They are the ones who committed anti-party [misconduct],” he added.