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By Emmanuel Adeleke
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has declared his intention to run for president in 2023.
Wike, who made the declaration at the Government House, Makurdi, Benue State, on Sunday, said that most of the presidential aspirants from the party were responsible for its downfall in 2015.
“Let these people who are interested in presidency in the PDP tell us their contributions. You claimed to be one of the founding fathers of the party, but you left and came back; you have become an ordinary person in the new PDP.
“If you form a company and run away because the company is not doing well, then you come back and found that it is now doing well, will you want to come and take over?
“Some people want to use Nigeria to get back their private businesses. Let them mention their private sector that survived. Is it bank that your father had?
“Everybody is an employer of labour; even me I have 50 people in my house. So everybody has been employing people according to his capacity.
“In 2015, most of these people made us (PDP) to lose the election,” he said.
Wike noted that he had stood firm for the party through thick and thin, adding that he had contributed immensely to the growth of the party.
“I have spoken truth to power. I don’t have problem with anybody but I have to tell them the truth. Umahi and others abused me because I told him that you cannot take our mandate away.
“As a governor, I have performed well. I can go anywhere with my shoulder high. How many of them have challenged this government?” he said.
Wike, who declared his interest in the nation’s most exalted seat appealed to the people of Benue State to vote for him during the party’s primary, saying, “don’t sell your vote, please give me your vote as we go to primary.”
“If I become president, we will take security as priority because the main purpose of government is protection of lives and property,” the governor added.