Wike Responds To Shettima’s Claim That Every APC Governor Is The Leader Of The Party In His State
Wike Responds To Shettima’s Claim That Every APC Governor Is The Leader Of The Party In His State
Nyesom Wike, the minister for federal capital territory (FCT) Abuja, has seemingly responded to viral statement attributed to vice president Kashim Shettima.
Reports claim that vice president Kashim Shettima at the official defection of Enugu State governor, Peter Mbah stated that every state-governors in the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) is the leader of the party in his state. The vice president explained that although he is the vice president of the country but that his state governor, Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno state is the leader of the APC in Borno state where he hails from.
Nyesom Wike despite not being a member of the ruling party, has been laying claim on the leadership of the party in Rivers state. He had in an interview argued that governor Sim Fubara is not the leader of the APC in Rivers state. He compared his political influence to that of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos before he became Nigeria’s president, insinuating that Tinubu who though was not occupying any political position at that point, was the leader of his party in Lagos State and that the state governor then was answerable to him.
Amid the controversy and tension over the ongoing power tussle involving Fubara and Wike, while speaking at Akuku Toru local government area on Wednesday during his thank-you visit to the LGA, Wike seemingly responded to vice president Shettima’s statement vaguely recognizing Sim Fubara as the leader of the APC in Rivers state. He explained that his overwhelming political influence has altered the traditional political landscape in Rivers state. According to him, all political parties in Rivers state comprising the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC) have unprecedentedly been united into a coalition under him. He described himself as the undisputed leader of all the unified political parties in Rivers state. He named the coalition as “Rainbow Coalition” for president Tinubu’s Renewed Hope presidency.
He boasted that the Rainbow Coalition which has swallowed both APC and PDP, under his stewardship, will give president Bola Ahmed Tinubu overwhelming victory in Rivers state as well as win all the elective positions in Rivers state including the governorship election, state and national house of assembly elections. Wike boasted further that such political dexterity that resulted in the unification of all political parties in a state into a single family is unprecedented. According to him, such political feat has never been accomplished by any politician in Nigeria.
Wike thereafter taunted members of the ruling party– APC who appear to be antagonizing him over his stance on Fubara political future. He dared them to replicate in their various states how he has been able to unify all political parties in his state into a pro-Bola Ahmed Tinubu political parties.
