Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has today bragged that his party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will take over power if the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) continues with the status co. The Governor made these remarks yesterday while inaugurating some of his projects in the state to mark his 58th birthday. Wike said, currently, the PDP controls about 13 states while the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) has one state and the All Progressive Congress (APC) controls the remaining states.
The outspoken governor revealed that the INEC has in recent times received some accolades from both politicians and civil society organizations over the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System used for accreditation of votes during the recent elections.
He said he commend the electoral Empire for one thing, which is standing against pressure from the ruling party in resisting influence on the outcome of the election conducted recently in Edo and Anambra states in Sept 2020 and November 2021 respectively despite the ruling party partaking in the exercise.
Wike applauded the INEC under the Chairmanship of Prof. Mahmud Yakubu for standing against all forms of malpractices and political intimidation.
He said, “By the grace of God, PDP will take over (in) 2023…I pray that INEC will continue with the system they have introduced where everybody will go and campaign and people’s votes will count because when people’s votes count political office holders will now be accountable. When your votes don’t count, political office holders will not be accountable to the people.”
According to Wike, the ruling party though will have the courage to campaign and would make attempt to manipulate, however, with the way INEC is serious about delivering credible elections, the Governor urged the electoral umpire to maintain the tempo and be courageous in carrying out their responsibility to Nigerians.
Wike vow not to impose any candidate on the Rivers state people though he has started making preparation for his exit.
He directed all his appointee's nursing ambition to contest for governorship seat to put forward their resignation letter to pursue their dream but not to become a detractor to his government.
