The youth wing of apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, on Wednesday, lambasted Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike over the political intrigues playing out in the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Wike and his aggrieved colleagues in the G-5 governors group are currently in the United Kingdom where they are expected to take a final decision on the candidate to support for the 2023 presidential election.
Wike and his colleagues are likely to choose between the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi and All Progressives Congress’ flagbearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, following their disagreement with their party’s candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, in a statement on Wednesday, described Wike’s movement as one driven by selfish interest.
Berating the Rivers Governor for working against a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, Okwu said Wike was now merely playing the ostrich.
The statement read, “We want to tell Nigerians not to be deceived by the likes of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who claims to be fighting against injustice in the PDP whereas he is merely pursuing selfish interests.
“It is on record that Governor Wike scuttled the micro-zoning of the PDP presidential ticket to the South-East because he felt he would bamboozle his way and get the ticket. But having failed to realise that selfish ambition, he turned to be shouting for justice and equity.
“Where was the equity when he chased Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party out of PDP? Where was equity when he refused all entreaties to back someone from the South-East for the PDP ticket? Now that he failed to clinch to the ticket, he now realises there is equity.
“Nigerians should not be deceived by Wike’s gimmicks. I also urged the governors moving with him to realise that he is pursuing a personal agenda. There is nothing like integrity in what he is doing, so his claim of leading ‘an integrity group’ should be discarded.”
The statement warned that as Nigerians await an announcement from the G-5 governors, “the citizens should not expect anything different but one that will be laced with personal desires and gains.”