Rivers State Governor , Nyesom Wike, has said mass defection would rock both the Peoples Democratic Party, and the All Progressives Congress between now and December.
He said politicians, would during the period, start realigning ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The Governor stated this at the inauguration of the reconstructed William Jumbo, Ernest Ikoli, Eleme , Akassa , Abana and Mbiama streets in the Old Government Residential Area of Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
He said although defection was an inherent part of the democratic process, those who defected from the PDP lacked integrity and character.
He said, “People are defecting; More will defect. Defection is part of our electoral process. As some people are defecting, others are coming in.
“There are those who are angry there (in APC), they’ll come (to PDP). You that is angry here (in PDP), you will go. That is the game,” Wike said.
Wike’s comment was contained in a statement on Thursday by the Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, titled, ‘defection will rock PDP, APC soon – Gov Wike.’
Governor Wike said, “If it is by provocation, if it is by intimidation, if it is by coercion, then Rivers State won’t have been in PDP.
“This is because, if there is one state that has been intimidated, if there is one state that has been punished by the ruling party, it is Rivers State.
“Yet nobody can push us, nobody can intimidate us to leave the hope and the future of this country, and that is the PDP,” the said.
He insisted that those who claimed that the PDP was unfair to them should also realise that the party had at different times, wronged Rivers State.
“Even if other states abandon the PDP, Rivers State will not abandon the party because we are a people of integrity, we are people of character.
Wike dismissed the assertion of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s that the reason the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, defected to the APC was because of the good things happening in the party.
He said, “The APC had wrecked Nigeria and that those defecting from the PDP were leaving a party that offered hope to the one that offered Nigerians none.”
An Ex-president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Onueze Okocha, SAN, who inaugurated the reconstructed streets applauded the governor for the great work his administration was doing in Rivers state.
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