Wike: People advised me to go for senate after PDP presidential primary loss (updated)

Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, says he was advised to contest for a seat in the senate after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary.

Wike said this on Friday in an interview with Channels Television.

The Rivers governor, however, said he rejected the suggestion because he did not contest the PDP primary to settle for a vice-presidential or senatorial ticket.

“Let me tell anybody who cares to know. I never ran for the presidential position in order to be a vice-president. Never,” Wike said.

“First of all, how you will know those who are prepared to run for election? Some of them collected presidential form at the same time they collected senatorial form. You will know that those ones are not serious.

“I never did. Even after the whole thing, people said come and go for senate, I said no. I won’t do that. I have already made a commitment that this senate should be zoned to this area because they have never had it before.

“I must not be in power. It is not a do-or-die affair.

“You know when you work as a team with people, you must listen to them. If I tell you the number of Nigerians that called me to make sure I take the offer? I said no, I won’t do that.”

He said different political parties have been asking him to join them because they know he is an “asset”, adding that “the pressure was too much”.

“So many parties are talking to me. If you are an asset, people must come and talk to you,” he added.

Wike had contested the PDP presidential primary that was held in May, but he lost to Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president.

Despite being recommended by a panel comprising governors and national working committee (NWC) members of the party as the PDP vice-presidential candidate, Abubakar picked Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta, as his running mate.

Following the primary, PDP members, especially supporters of Wike, demanded the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu, national chairman of the party, on the grounds that the presidential candidate and national chairman cannot be from the same region.

However, the party’s national executive committee (NEC) recently passed a vote of confidence in Ayu and the NWC.

Abubakar recently said the only way to remove Ayu is by amending the party’s constitution.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect a correction on who advised the Rivers governor to contest for a seat in the senate.