Governor Nyesom Wike has revealed that Rivers state people already know the candidate he wants them to vote for in the 25 February 2023 presidential election, stressing that those expecting him to make public declaration on his choice candidate would wait in vain.
Wike in Port Harcourt, Wednesday, for Rivers Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign rally for Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, also accused Commissioner of Police, CP Okon Effiong of shying away from checking perceived infractions on elections campaigns by opposition parties in the state.
Apparently responding to 2015 Rivers All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside, who had dared him to declare his preferred presidential candidate, Governor Wike said he, at no point, promised to make public declaration on who to support for president.
He said, “I never told anybody I will face cameras to announce to you this is who we will vote. I said I will tell Rivers people the candidate they will support. I did not state the method of telling it. I did not say I will hold live coverage to declare it.
“And Rivers people know already. Are you no aware. So ‘mumu’ people who never win in politics are expecting me to make live declaration that we’re now going for Joseph (hypothetically).
“Far from it. But you (Rivers people) are aware. Have we not said it? I’ve told people who don’t know. In G-5 we are fighting a guerilla warfare. The more you look the less you see.”
On perceived indifference of the CP Rivers Police Command, to alleged infractions in campaigns by opposition parties in the state, Wike warned CP Okon that he would take over his job and unleash Neighborhood Watch, the state’s established community policing outfit on opposition parties.
He said of the CP, “You are the one making them (opposition parties) to break the law. If you don’t do your work, we will take over your work from you. We will release our Neighborhood Watch. You cannot support people who are breaking the law.
“You know the truth of the matter, you are scared so they won’t transfer you.
You can be transfered anywhere, any day. So you are neither here nor there. Your fear of being transfered will not save you. Do your work. Nobody should intimidate you. Tell them not to push us to the wall.”
