.. Says, Vote For APC Is Invitation To Doom, Gloom, Hopelessness
…Picks Ipalibo Harry Banigo As Running Mate
It was a smooth sail for Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike as he picked the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP for next year general election.
Wike who got the party’s nod as a sole aspirant in the Governorship Primaries held at Sharks Football Stadium, Port Harcourt on Sunday, immediately settled down for business and fired a warning shot at the All Progressives Party (APC) ahead of the 2019 polls, to be mindful as PDP is all out and ready for the challenge.
The Governor also warned of dare consequences If the APC-led federal government tried to muscle their way in Rivers like they did in Ekiti and Osun States and thought they’d gotten away.
Governor Wike beat his chest to assert his qualification to be returned by the electorate in the state come next year.
First, there is no ambiguity to his birth and background, as everything is crystal clear – a bonafide son of the soil, he was born, raised and had his primary, secondary and tertiary education in Rivers State.
As a thorough homebred, he said he has had all work experiences in the state, rising from being a Local Government Chairman to becoming Chief of Staff at Government House and; to his current position as Governor.
His words, “I’ve been the Governor of our beloved State for the last three and half years and therefore fully at home with the duties and responsibilities of that office. In accepting this call therefore, I can say without any fear of contradictions that I am worthy of the trust, faith and confidence you have all overwhelmingly shown to me and my Deputy and I thank you for the honour and confidence”.
The governor said he had been in the State long enough and became familiar with the sufferings, yearnings and aspirations of the people.
As part of his strong points, Wike said he has within three and half years in office demonstrated commitment and zeal to redefine the narrative of governance through fiscal development in all sectors of the economy.
He said the economy of the state was on a downward spiral when he assumed office in 2015, adding, “The state capital and its environs were bad and heavily riddled with potholes, even as the roads inherited by government were either neglected or abandoned for lack of funding. The situation was not different with the situation of public schools and healthcare facilities”.
He enumerated two cases which he said were more pathetic. According to him, Emohua and Ogu-Bolo LGAAs suffered the worst with existing secondary schools demolished with no block raised in replacement. The Rotimi Amaechi administration, he regretted, did not renovate a single secondary school in the State all through its eight years in power.
On the state of insecurity in the state which he recalled left its effect on the social and economic life of the people of the state, Governor Wike said the situation forced investors to leave the state even as businessmen and women closed shop.
“Never again will anyone be allowed to inflict such calamity on our people”, he vowed, warning that a vote for the APC in 2019, is a vote to return the State to the dark days of gloom, doom and hopelessness.
Again, for those armchair analysts who had theorized that Dr. (Mrs.) Ipalibo Harry Banigo would be dropped as Wike’s Deputy, as a strategy to win a section of the Rivers population, the pronouncement by the Governor that he would continue with the Kalabari-born medic may have come as a back breaker.
In course of his acceptance speech, Wike had explained that his decision to retain Dr Banigo as Deputy followed wide range consultations from relevant stake holders of the PDP in the state.
That decision therefore put paid to all the speculations suggesting that Banigo may be dropped as the number two citizen in 2019.
Those speculations, whether cogent or a product of one of those malaria induced dreams, may have also raised hopes especially to those who stood to benefit had their principal gotten the job.
It may be instructive to think that the retention of Banigo may have elicited thoughts from pundits who may now be wondering what Governor Wike has up his sleeves.
If the Rotimi Amaechi faction of the APC gets its way to throw up Mr. Tonye Cole as guber candidate in 2019, it follows logically then that flying with Ipalibo Harry may well pay off for Governor Wike and the PDP not to lose the Kalabari block.
