Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has rejected claims that he is spearheading the imposition of his preferred candidate on the party ahead of the presidential election.
He accused former chairman of Daar communications, Raymond Dokpesi, who was said to have made the allegation, as a mole in PDP and agent of the ruling All Progressive congress (APC).
He said it is not true that he led PDP governors to Europe to pick the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
Dokpesi is a frontline supporter of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar who is said to be nursing a presidential ambition.
In a statement on Thursday, Kelvin Ebiri, media aide to Wike, quoted the governor as saying PDP governors got text messages and calls that the former Daar chairman said they embarked on a weeklong trip to Europe.
“I have always said to people in PDP, nobody should cause a division among the governors. We are trying as much as we can to build the party back and see that in 2023 PDP takes over governance,” he said.
“I have some suspicion that people like Raymond Dokpesi are not really sincere to the Peoples Democratic Party and I think , I’m convinced that Raymond Dokpesi appears to be working for APC.
“I don’t understand where Raymond Dokpesi gets this information, this rumour that governors travelled to Europe to decide who will be the presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate of PDP. I wonder why governors will travel to Europe to make such a decision.
“I have told Raymond Dokpesi that there is nothing wrong with you preaching for the candidature of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Waziri of Adamawa, a very experienced man, an intelligent man, a strategist. But don’t destroy other people because of this. Because when you destroy them it will be difficult for the PDP to win the election in 2023.”
The governor said if Atiku wins the PDP presidential ticket, the governors will support him.
He said: “We supported Atiku Abubakar when he won (PDP presidential ticket), and even if he wins now, the governors will rally round him, but when you destroy the governors and bring confusion, how will it work?”
