Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has claimed that he never opposed the presidential candidates of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, during the presidential campaign.
Wike explained that he stood for power rotation from the North to the Southern part of the country; hence he never opposed Tinubu or Obi.
The governor said he was an “apostle” of the power shift to the southern region of Nigeria.
He spoke at the commissioning of Chokocho-Igbodo Road in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The governor stressed that he owed nobody an apology for supporting power rotation to the South.
“Whether you voted for Labour, I have no problem with you. Whether you voted for APC, I have no problem with you. That is what we have argued for: that the north has had it for eight years. Therefore the south must be there for eight years.
“As far as I am concerned, anybody from the south, that is my position. That is what we agreed in the Integrity Group that we must make sure that the south emerges as the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Each time I went for a campaign, nobody has ever heard me criticise Obi. Nobody has ever heard me criticize Asiwaju. I owe nobody any apology that people voted for the southern presidency,” he said.
Prior to the 2023 presidential election, Wike had ignored the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Wike and his group, Integrity group, had clamoured for rotation of the presidency from the North to the South.
The governor also called for the resignation of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to be replaced with a Southerner.
He noted that the North can’t produce PDP’s presidential candidate and National Chairman.