Rivers State elders have issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to withdraw its governorship candidate, Nyesom Wike, from the governorship race ahead of the 2015 election.
The elders issued the ultimatum after a meeting held in Port Harcourt.
The elders, who spoke on the platform of the Rivers Leaders and Elders’ Council, maintained that it was necessary for the PDP and the President to take such a step in order to avoid losing the governorship election in the state
They also asked President Goodluck Jonathan to prevail on Wike to step down as the governorship candidate before or on January 5, 2015, in his (Jonathan) own interest.
Chairman of the council, Chief Albert Horsfall, warned that the people of the state would vote for only the political party that presented a riverine person as their candidate should Wike fail to withdraw from the governorship race.
Horsfall specifically told leaders and elders from the various ethnic groups in the state to vote for the ‘next bigger’ political party that presented a riverine person as their flag bearer.
The group had appealed to various political parties in the state to field a riverine person as their governorship candidate.
Horsfall cautioned that the people of the state would not be bought over with money or be intimidated into succumbing to injustice and slavery for the next 50 years as a result of the failure of the state PDP to embrace zoning of the governorship position in the state
This is coming at a time about 15 out of the 24 governorship aspirants were alleged to have entered an agreement with the state PDP to support Wike’s governorship aspiration.
Some, including the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Harcourt, Prof. Don Baridam, Bekinbo Dagogo-Jack, and Dumo Lulu-Briggs have, however, refuted the agreement claim.
One of the aggrieved PDP Governorship aspirants in Rivers state, Dumo Lulu-Briggs on his part said non of the aggrieved aspirants had been contacted by the leadership of the party over the controversy trailing the party primaries in the state.
While insisting that the crisis within the fold of the PDP persisted, the governorship aspirant said Nyesom Wike had contacted him for support.
He also wondered why former Governor Peter Odili and First Lady, Patience Jonathan should think that only Nyesom Wike could win election for the PDP in Rivers state.
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