Governor Nyesom Wike of River State has revealed that there was nothing that the National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP Senator Iyorchia Ayu did not do for him not to emerge as the presidential candidate of the party.
There’s nothing Ayu did not do for me not to emerge as the PDP candidate. Ayu did everything to manipulate the system to ensure that all the numbers did not add up,” he said. The PDP held its presidential primaries in May, which produced Abubakar Atiku as the party’s flag bearer for 2023.
Recall that Wike had earlier said he has no reason to leave the PDP, no matter the situations threatening unity of the party ahead of the 2023 general elections. Wike at a Rivers PDP stakeholders meeting in Port Harcourt Thursday, the first of such since the rancorous presidential primaries and picking of running mate had said he would tell his own side of the story on Friday. The governor said that he was interested in preserving the sanity of the party and will stay back to fight for the enthronement of unity, inclusivity, equity and peace in the PDP.
Wike said, “I have always told people, if anybody is thinking we will leave PDP, foul. We will fight at the party. We are not like them, when in 2014 they walked out from Eagle Square. They’ve forgotten. They walked out and joined APC. Is it not correct? “Did they remain to fight inside the party? But we remained, they ran away. Now, there is a fight in the party, we will not run. We will fight it in this party. Those who run away from fight are weak people. We will not. So everybody should know this is the state where we are. So that nobody tells you all kinds of stories.”
The governor noted that the party constitution clearly stating that elective and party offices must be zoned should be respected, wondering why former PDP Board of Trustee (BOT) Chairman would be pressured to resign and while national chairman, Sen Iyorchia Ayu excuses self from doing what is right.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has revealed that he was aware of the underground moves of the Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, to become the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 elections.
Speaking during a media chat on Friday, Wike said that though he was aware, he expected good sense to prevail in the party.
One of the journalists interviewing him, Gbenga Aruleba, pointed out that perhaps, he (Wike) had not been observing the patterns as Okowa was the only South South governor who didn’t buy a nomination form to vie for the presidency or a senatorial seat and that might have been a pointer to his undeclared ambition.
Wike responded, “That he (Atiku) was going to run with Okowa. That Okowa supported him. We were all aware. It is not that we didn’t see. Take for instance the United States of America, (Joe) Biden ran and the current vice president of America, Kamala Harris, gave Biden serious problem. When they wanted to pick the Vice President, Biden said this woman gave me serious problem, I cannot pick this woman, but those in Biden’s camp, who meant well for him told him, ‘If you want to win this election, you must pick Kamala Harris.’ And look at the support (for Biden) today.
“The problem with some of our leaders is that there are so many rent-seekers around them. They (rent-seekers) have not been in power for years. So they are all looking for how to bounce back. They are people who have no value to add.”
The governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, has challenged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to suspend him over alleged anti-party activities.
The Rivers State Governor made the challenge on Friday while fielding questions from journalists in the just concluded media chat in Port Harcourt.
Wike said they won’t dare that because they know what he can do, adding that those that left the party can’t suspend.
“I beg them to call for a NEC meeting today and say Governor of Rivers State you’re hereby suspended from the party. Anything yiu see, you take. They know what I will do. Pikin that said him mama no go sleep, won’t sleep too. Nobody has the monopoly of causing problem.
Asked if he’s not engaged in anti-party activities, he said the insinuation isn’t correct adding that other parties are visiting him because they want to win Rivers asking “who doesn’t want to win Rivers State?”
Presidential candidates from other political parties have met with the Rivers Governor to woo him into supporting them in the 2023 general election.
He said even their presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar is talking to other party members to support him.
BVI Channel 1 Online published the above news report as forwarded by Hon Arinze Awogu. Reactions have been hitting our news desk since the publication. One of the Readers challenged Hon Awogu for a radio live program on the issue.
However ,it is important to set the record straight; earning 13% derivation is as a result of the combined efforts of members of Anambra state Oil and Gas Committee, Special Adviser Legal Matters and Petroleum Resources under former Governor Obiano and present relevant Ministry in Prof. Soludo government. We can also confirm that Anambra State has earned over N1 billion in 13 % derivation since July 2022.
The 1st oil from OML 143 was reported on 27th November, 2021.
Being an oil producing state does not automatically confer membership of NDDC. Efforts are ongoing to amend the NDDC act to admit Anambra State as an NDDC member state.
Founder, 40million Ballots Movement and humanitarian activist Comrade Kennedy Iyere has described as lies the reports by National Publicity Secretary of the Obiozor-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, in the sinister attempt to cover up what he described as shameful conduct against him.
Iyere alleged that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo compelled him to pay money to the Chairmen of Ohanaeze Ndigbo representing Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Delta and Rivers in September 2020 in Awka, Anambra State where Chief Damian Okeke, Anambra Chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Alex Ogbonnia, the then Ohanaeze Chairman of Enugu State, demanded that I pay them money.
Iyere further alleged that, “These two men conditionally demanded of me to pay money to the Chairmen of Ohanaeze Ndigbo representing the above-indicated seven States and threatened to exclude Ohanaeze Ndigbo from my Advocacy Project for 2023 Igbo Presidency unless they are paid to be part of it.
“These men got paid by me but did not get involved, rather they chose to use Ohanaeze Ndigbo to fight my high-level advocacy for 2023 Igbo Presidency, which I anchored through the support of Afenifere, PANDEF and Middle Belt Forum.
“Today, I am like a son to the leaders of Afenifere, PANDEF and the Middle Belt Forum because of what I have done to push for the actualization of Igbo Presidency in 2023, while the Obiozor-led Ohanaeze executive members have continued their attempts to frustrate my efforts just the same way they have done over the past two years.
Comrade Iyere buttressed that the pro-Igbo advocacy for the actualization of a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction was unveiled in Awka under the name of Global Movement for Igbo Presidency (GLOMIP 2023). The unveiling was conducted on the 6th of October 2020 by His Excellency, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, CFR (Okwadike), former Governor of Anambra State.
Today, our efforts have paid off as Peter Obi is now widely celebrated as the best and favourite candidate among the available options for the 2023 presidential election but Ohanaeze should realize the fact that they fought me secretly just to hinder the struggle for Igbo Presidency in 2023.
“Thank God for people like Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Edwin Clark, Dr Pogu Bitrus, Commodore Dan Suleiman, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife (Okwadike), Prof Ihechukwu Madubuike, Chief Simon Okeke, Dr Nwachukwu Anakwenze, Alex Iheke, General Ihekire (Rtd), Chief (Mrs) Chika, Rtd Comptroller Ihagh, Comrade Kenneth Robinson, Barrister Sola Ebisieni, Comrade Ajayi , among others. They are the reasons we have Peter Obi today.
“I worked with all of these great and prominent Nigerians for fighting for the actualization of Igbo Presidency in 2023.
Arinzechukwu Awogu, former chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra, said in 2016 when he learnt of the mining activities by some foreign operators in the oil-rich area of the state, he embarked on a voyage through the mangrove swamp and forest to see things first-hand for himself.
Awogu, a civil rights activist and senior special assistant to former Governor Willie Obiano on political matters, said, against every security advice and with determination to ensure that Anambra was not shortchanged, he braced the odds and came back with startling tales of economic exploitation of monumental proportions.
He said an oil company carefully balkanized Ogbaru communities of Ogwu-Aniocha and Ogwu-Ikpele and shared them to Imo and Delta states, respectively.
According to Awogu, who is the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for Ogbaru Federal Constituency: “I was advised not to go because nobody goes there, but I insisted that I must risk it.
“I took off with 11 motorbikes from where our vehicles could manage to get to Otuakanta.
“We were 21 persons and of the 11 motorbikes with which I advanced into the mangrove forest only five made it to the oilfield because of the thorny and soggy nature of the pathway. At some point, we had to drag the motorbikes by hand.
“When we eventually got to the oilfield after about three hours in the forest, I saw about 35 caravans; I saw where the oil company built an helipad, where they land their helicopters. I saw drilling machines and I saw their rig.
“I saw pipes lined up towards Oguta and I saw security operatives there and it was a very busy place covering about five football fields put together with foreigners and other staff fully at work,” he said.
Awogu said his arrival at the Ogbaru oil mining field after a tortuous journey was the first by any Anambra State government official. He said he was convinced that the community where the exploration was going on was within Ogbaru and, by extension, belonged to Anambra.
He recalled that this effort started two years before he was made chairman of Ogbaru council and that the appointment merely complemented the effort already set in motion.
“They said to me that I was the first person coming from the Anambra State government to lay claim to the field; you will hardly believe that such a big deal was going on deep inside Ogbaru.
“I told the governor that that was the quickest way Anambra could join the list of oil-producing states. I met severally with the late Dr. Emma Egbogah on the issue and we began to escalate the matter to all authorities,” he said.
He said now that the objective had been achieved, NDDC operations will start and oil companies will undertake corporate social responsibility, which will lead to better roads, schools, hospitals, jetties, remodeled local markets, scholarships and other social amenities.
He thanked Obiano and Igwe Oliver Chike Nnaji of Ogwu-Aniocha, who was murdered in the process and his body is yet to be seen till date.
He said: “I make bold to say that Igwe Oliver Chike Nnaji is the hero of the oil status we are beginning to enjoy today, for he laid his life for it and he deserves to be remembered and the young family he left behind.
“As of today, there are more than 114 oil wells in Ogbaru LGA. Our strong disdain for bribery and compromise has finally paid off and today Anambra State is the winner with eight producing oil wells from Ogbaru in the kitty, pumping out no fewer than 500 barrels of crude oil every day, which was hitherto credited to Imo and Delta states.
“Of the 93 oil wells, 25 are within Umunzalabia kindred’s land and 27 are located within Umuezeosai kindred’s land, while the rest 41 are located at Ofia-Ogwu (Okporodum, Utu-ala, Ogbundam, Odidi lake, etc).
“Ogbaru has become a beautiful bride and soon will be visited with infrastructural developments commensurate with her contribution to the national economy.
“For me, true representation is all about the people and any representation that is not geared towards the ultimate good of the people should not exist.”
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the action of the team members of the Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike.
Reading out the communique after the meeting in Port Harcourt, capital city of Rivers, Bode George, PDP chieftain, said the campaign council list released by the party which has the name of Wike is “putting the cart before horse”.
“The published presidential campaign council list translates to putting the cart before horse, the pertinent issue remains the Ayu leadership,” George said.
“We therefore resolve that senator Iyorchia Ayu resigns as the national chairman for an acting chairman of southern Nigeria extraction.
We resolved not to participate in the campaign council in whatever capacity until the resignation of Dr Iyorchia Ayu.”
In a statement personal signed by Atiku, he said “It is time to move on with the task of nation building,” adding that the issue of resignation is Ayu’s personal decision to make and he can’t force him to do same.
The statement reads:
Early this morning, my attention was drawn to a news clip in which several very senior and influential members of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), addressed the press and, amongst other things, declared that they are withdrawing, forthwith, from the Presidential Campaign Council set up by our party to judiciously plan and prosecute the general elections set to hold in February and March 2023, on the one hand; and reiterated their earlier calls for the resignation or removal from office of the national chairman of our party, Senator Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, on the other hand.
The people that addressed the press must have their reasons for withdrawing from the Presidential Campaign Council, and I will not speculate as to what those reasons may be. Personally, I am quite surprised with this withdrawal because, as I have been informed by officials of our party, apart from the Rivers State chapter of the PDP, all the remaining states of the federation submitted names of people who they wanted included in the Presidential Campaign Council.
“On the calls for the resignation or removal from office of our national chairman, however, I must reiterate what I have said severally in public and in private; the decision for Dr. Iyorchia Ayu to resign from office is personal to Dr. Ayu and, neither I nor anyone else can make that decision for him. As to the calls for the removal of Dr. Ayu from office, however, I will state that, as a committed democrat and firm believer in the rule of law and democratic tenets, and our party being one set up, organized and regulated by law and our constitution, it is my absolute belief that every thing that we do in our party must be done in accordance with, and conformity to, the law and our constitution. If Dr. Ayu is to be removed from office, it must be done in accordance with the laws that set out the basis for such removal. In any event, you will all recall that the very body that is empowered by law to initiate this removal from office, has already passed a vote of confidence in him.
Now, our nation is currently in the throes of a multidimensional crisis encompassing insecurity, economic meltdown, disunity and mutual mistrust and educational dislocations, to mention a few. I have a plan to address these issues and I have, graciously, been given the ticket to lead our great party in next year’s presidential elections, with the singular mandate to come and lead the efforts to cure these ills. It is in this light that I have reached out to every single member of our great party to join me in the massive undertaking required to reset the ship of state, and help rebuild our country. Every single person who loves this country, as I do, is needed for the arduous tasks that face us ahead as a nation, and this includes every member of the PDP. And it is my fervent hope and prayer that every man and woman of goodwill will join hands with us to help rebuild and reposition our beloved country. In this light, therefore, I will urge those members of our party that have stated their resolve to withdraw from the Presidential Campaign Council to have a rethink, retrace their steps, and join us in these efforts.
The above notwithstanding, and for the sake of our country, our children, and those yet unborn, we must not, for one minute, shirk in our responsibilities to rebuild this beloved country of ours.
Accordingly, we must forge on with the task and the mandate that we have been bestowed with. It is time, therefore, to move on with the formidable tasks of nation building ahead of us.
“May God guide us all, and may God soothe our great party, and our dear country.”
The national industrial court of Nigeria (NICN) has ordered the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its ongoing nationwide strike.
ASUU has been on strike since February 14 to press home the demand for improved funding for universities, a review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.
Several meetings between ASUU and the federal government have ended in a deadlock.
Consequently, the federal government went to court to challenge the strike.
The government through its counsel, James Igwe prayed the court for an interlocutory injunction restraining ASUU from taking further steps as regards the strike, pending the determination of the substantive suit.
List of PDP Chieftains who have pulled out of Atiku’s campaign council
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike
Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom
Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu
Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi
Ex Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang
Ex Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo
Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose
Former Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko
Former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke
Bode George of Lagos
Jerry Gana
Dan Orbih from Edo and a host of others.
The team of the Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has pulled out of the campaign Council of the People’s Democratic Party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.
Rising from their stormy meeting in Port Harcourt early morning on Wednesday, members of the team vowed not to partake in Atiku’s campaign activities pending the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu.
Reading out the communique after the meeting in Port Harcourt, capital city of Rivers, Bode George, PDP chieftain, said the campaign council list released by the party which has the name of Wike is “putting the cart before horse”.
“The published presidential campaign council list translates to putting the cart before horse, the pertinent issue remains the Ayu leadership,” George said.
“We therefore resolve that senator Iyorchia Ayu resigns as the national chairman for an acting chairman of southern Nigeria extraction.
We resolved not to participate in the campaign council in whatever capacity until the resignation of Dr Iyorchia Ayu.”
The PDP has been in turmoil since May when Atiku was elected as the standard bearer of the party.
Wike, whom many thought would be chosen as the party’s vice-presidential candidate, was ignored by Atiku who picked Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta, as his running mate.
The Rivers governor’s allies, who include Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo; Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue; George, Jerry Gana, former minister of information, are insisting that Ayu must resign as a condition for peace in the party.
