Following the movement of Governor David Umahi from the the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Nyesom Wike has taken time to respond to his claims.
In his response, Governor Wike has concluded that Umahi wants to contest the Presidential elections in 2023 on the ticket of APC.
To him, Umahi has every right to move to any party of his choice but accusing a party which gave him the opportunity to become Governor both in 2015 and 2019 was not right nor fair. Umahi’s brother, according to Wike, also became PDP’s vice chairman for the South-East area.
He said;
“My friend, Umahi wants to be president. There is no problem with that. You have a right to be president. Nobody can stop you. You are educated. You have been a governor for two terms, so you are qualified to say I want to be president of Nigeria.
“But, that does not mean, that because you want to blackmail your party, and tell lies to the people you are leaving the party because of the injustice meted against the South-East, that is not correct.”
Responding also to Governor Umahi’s claim that the PDP has not been fair to the to the South-East, Wike has called out to him to retract it because the South-East has produced Senate Presidents, national vice party chairman, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
Governor Wike’s reaction is therefore summed up in his statement below;
“In life, power is sweet, but conscience is important. It is most offensive and insulting for a man to lie against his party because of power.
“My reaction to Governor Umahi’s defection is not that he has no right to defect, but to say he is defecting because of injustice meted to the South East, that is insulting to the South East.”
