If INEC Is Fair, Nigerians Will Be Surprised At The Outcome Of 2023 Elections  – Wike

By Charles Igbo

In a clear allusion to the speculations that he and his Camp are not likely to vote for Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 Presidential election, Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has revealed that Nigerians will be shocked at the outcome of the oncoming elections.

Both Atiku and Wike are of the same Political Party, PDP.

Speaking on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, at the Ikwerre Local Government Area of the State, where he flagged off the construction of Igwuruta Internal Roads, Wike said if the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will be fair and transparent, a shock awaits Nigerians in 2023. He added: “Rivers votes are not for free.A day will come when Rivers people will  take a decision on what to do.”

The Governor whose relationship with Atiku has remained fractured since the former Vice President beat him to a second place during the Party’s Presidential Primary, and chose Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate, in his stead, Wike has left tongues wagging over who he would support in the Presidential election. He has boasted that wherever he goes, Rivers State goes.

To lose the State in a Presidential election is a big deal.

Apparently in response to the National Chairman of the Party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, who referred to those who want him to step down as children who do not know why the Party was formed, Wike said he would do the bidding of Nigerians not that of individuals who are in the minority.

He said nobody can threaten him, and that Nigerians would “soon know some of these characters.” Wike and his Camp are asking Ayu to step down from office as the National Chairman because the Presidential candidate is of the same North as Ayu. Ayu had, also, allegedly, promised to step down if the PDP Presidential candidate is a Northerner. He has since reneged on that promise, insisting on his four-year tenure.

Wike: “Time will come when Nigerians will know these types of characters; characters that will say all kinds of things because of power; characters that will be agents to destroy their own people. They should take one day fasting and pray for their forgiveness because from what I have seen, they are almost doomed.

“There is no amount of threats that will make me betray my people. I won’t do that. What I have said today is what I will say tomorrow. Go and check our history. We are not known for being betrayers, at all.

“Some people threatened that they are former Generals, they are close to the CIA in America; they can deal with us. I say, listen, no problem. If you are close to America’s CIA, why didn’t you use it to solve the the Boko Haram problem? Nigeria has a serious problem, and you are linked to the CIA, why not use that contact and solve Nigeria’s problem?

“You want to use it to threaten me. Who are you? I should come and do your own bidding? I will not do that. I will do the biddings of Nigerians, not the bidding of a few individuals who believe that if they are not there, it must be their children, no other person should come up. I will not do that. A day shall come, and Rivers people will take a decision on what to do.”

It is not known the people, the Generals, who are threatening Wike with the CIA when, according to him,  they are not able to tackle Boko Haram with the CIA. Wike did not reveal their identities.

However, according to a political analyst, “he is not referring to Atiku because Atiku is neither a General, nor has anything to do with the American CIA.”