The Rivers state governorship candidate under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Nyesom Wike on Sunday got the blessing of Ijaw Progressive Agenda, after it rose from its emergency meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
In an interactive session with pressmen after the meeting, the National President of the body, Mr. Richard Akinakah, noted that the body had decided to put aside ethnic considerations in the interest of good governance and development for the benefit of the people.
He said, “Apart from political expediency in terms of carrying all ethnic groups in Rivers State along, there is a greater need of ensuring that a capable hand that is electable is given the mandate to wrestle power from the opposition party in the state and no other person is well positioned to do it than Nyesom Wike.
“Again, when the fight to save the party from being erased from the state, following the jumping of ship by Governor Chibuike Amaechi who abandoned the party under whose platform he ascended to power, it was only the bold and hard fighting Wike that was left standing and salvaged the party; a reason some of those contending with him have a platform to stand on to agitate.
“While other candidates, some of who do not even know the name of their ward chairmen in the party were busy fighting shy, Wike played his politics and transverse every nook and cranny of the state, putting up structures that today fly the flag of PDP, so he has demonstrated the will to fight and win election for the party.
Akinakah further stated “Where a candidate comes from does not really matter, but the ability of the person to touch the lives of Rivers people, use their vast resources and apply it prudently so that it would yield the best results for the people to enjoy. Our primary concern should be if the candidate is good and has a developmental agenda for the state. There are other ways of carrying every tribe along, not necessarily by handing power to people who are not ready for it,”
Comments