Wike explains why the approval of the Atiku rally at Rivers Stadium was revoked

The governor of Rivers declared that his administration could not deny the veracity of the intelligence and leave the sports complex vulnerable to destruction.

Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, has defended his administration’s decision to revoke the permission it had previously given the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council to hold its rally in a stadium there.

The PDP presidential primary is scheduled for February 11; the state government approved using the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium on January 11.

However, the Rivers State Government announced through the Commissioner for Sports, Christopher Green, that the approval has been revoked in a statement dated January 31, 2023, and addressed to the Director General of the Campaign Council and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal.

The All Progressives Congress (APC), the opposition party in Rivers, is accused of working with the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, according to the government’s statement.

Wike claimed that the government’s action was in the best interests of the state while speaking at a Rivers State PDP campaign rally in the Degema Local Government Area.

The PDP Presidential Campaign Council is to share use of the facility with the APC, whose actions, according to him, have been marked by violence and devastation, according to the intelligence report at its disposal.

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Wike argued that his government could not deny the veracity of the intelligence and leave the sporting complex vulnerable to destruction.

The governor also refuted claims made by the opposition parties that the state’s opposition parties are being prevented from holding election rallies by the new laws on the use of public facilities for political campaigns.

Wike, a G5 group member, and Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, have been at odds over control of Iyorchia Ayu.

According to him, those who oppose the signing of Executive Orders 21 and 22, which require a five-million-naira security deposit before using public school grounds for political campaigns and restrict the posting of campaign materials on public property like flyovers, are attention seekers who are incapable of winning elections.

In order to mobilise voters for the elections, he ordered the residents of Degema to move about the units.

He claimed that actual voters will decide the outcome of this year’s election and that the public’s vote will be taken into consideration.