2023: Wike Declares Rivers State A “No-Go Area” For Other Parties

Insisting that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will easily win the oil-rich state of Rivers State in the next elections, Governor Nyesom Wike has warned rival parties from holding campaigns there.

He addressed on Saturday at the State Honours and Awards ceremony held in Port Harcourt’s Government House Banquet Hall.

He told the audience at the event, “Lawyer, you must make money but here don’t bother yourself; nobody (opposition) would win here, so don’t waste your money campaigning in the state.”

‘Don’t invest money here it won’t work; it is a no-go area,’ I told David Umahi, Governor of Kogi (Yahaya Bello), and Abubakar Malami (Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice), when they came to meet me, the governor said.

He asserts that his government already has a successor, who was chosen as a result of the good job done under his watch.

“In my state, we already know who will succeed me. If you are spending money on somebody, I want to tell you to stop, Wike stated.

“We have a successor right here. Not by my strength, but rather by what we have accomplished in this situation. I don’t want to impose a successor, though. It’s not accurate. Bring a replacement and explain your decision to the crowd.

The major opposition party’s leadership and Wike, a former minister, have been at odds since since Atiku Abubakar won the party’s presidential nomination. Since both the previous vice president and PDP national chairman Iyorchia Ayu are from the northern area, the governor said the process was unjust and asked Ayu to resign.

The party’s upper echelons are hopeful that a ceasefire can be made before the nation goes to the elections in February 2019, despite the fact that efforts to reconcile Wike with his allies have so far been unsuccessful.

But experts claim that Wike’s relationship with prominent opposition figures raises serious questions for the PDP, which has been out of power at the national level since 2015.