Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, has disclosed that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, does not need the logistics support of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, when he visits Rivers State for campaign.
Umahi said this during the inauguration of Akpabu-Itu-Omudiogha-Egbeda Road in Ishimbam land of Emohua Local Government Area in Rivers State on Tuesday.
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Umahi stated:
My party APC doesn’t need logistics. We have seen how you promised all the candidates logistics support.
We don’t need logistics support, we need votes just for the presidential one only. All I am asking is that presidential one. I will not ask what is impossible.
Keep the presidential votes for Asiwaju. He will be coming here to solicit votes…
Addressing Wike, Umahi described him as a nationalist, saying:
A man that is building bridges for the unity of this country, history will be kind to you.
He said the Rivers State governor had been fighting for everybody who betrayed him, adding that Wike had been inviting stakeholders across party lines to come to the state, saying:
You are a man with a lion heart.
You have never picked a fight for yourself, it is always for the people. I remember when in 2019 you were fighting for somebody, someone that drove the first dagger against you and you picked quarrel even with me.
I told you the South-East would support your candidate, but you did not believe. When you narrowly lost the election for the guy, you were angry with everyone.
You insisted the convention should hold in Rivers. You have no reservation in supporting other people.
I am an engineer and I know the worth of projects and what you have done here. I will not be part of any campaign here other than presidential campaign.
I will not come. Your infrastructure is second to none. I thank you for what you are doing in Rivers.
Speaking, Wike accused those who demanded the former President Goodluck Jonathan to relinquish his presidential ticket when he won to run for a second term in 2015 of being the cause of the protracted crisis rocking the PDP.
Wike said ex-President Jonathan went to those chieftains of the PDP and pleaded with them to return and work to ensure that the party won the 2015 election, but they refused and insisted that he should relinquish the ticket to them.
According to him, Jonathan specifically met with the current PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Dorchester hotel in London and appealed to him to return to the party.
He said:
In Dorchester hotel (London), he (Jonathan) went to plead with this our presidential candidate today, Atiku Abubakar, to say please my brother come back to the party and support me.
You know the condition they gave to Jonathan, he should relinquish his ticket not to run as president of Nigeria. That was a sitting president and presidential candidate of a ruling party.
Governor Wike wondered why people were now calling for his head because he and other governors that made up the ‘Integrity Group’ were demanding that the PDP national chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, should relinquish his position.
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He explained:
We are not saying the presidential candidate should relinquish the ticket, we are not being selfish. We are saying since you’re now the presidential candidate, let our people take chairmanship, they said they will kill me.
Wike explained that his previous face-off with Governor Umahi was not personal, but to protect the PDP which mandate he (Umahi) took away to another party.
He said he pulled out of that legal battle against Umahi because, despite the fact that he hired the PDP lawyers, the national leadership of the party in Abuja did not consult with him when they decided those to likely replace the Ebonyi State governor.
Governor Wike noted:
Let me publicly say most people thought that you and I are quarrelling, we are not in speaking terms. My dear people, I want to say this, David Umahi has no problem with me personally.
If there is one governor that David Nwaeze Umahi is very close to, it’s me. I was defending our party when he took our mandate and ran away. And I said my brother bring back our mandate.
He explained that he could not have continued to fight for a party that did not appreciate what he was doing for it.
He added:
But you see in fighting for the party, there was nothing personal, even though the party you are fighting for turned around not to appreciate what you are doing.
When you see Wike is fighting, there is nothing personal about it, but it is for the interest of the party. And I have said all those fight is no longer necessary. I won’t continue to fight and people will not appreciate.
