2023: Governor Wike declares for president

Rivers State Governor, Nyesome Wike, has declared his intention to contest for president of Nigeria in the 2023 election.

Mr Wike reportedly disclosed this while visiting his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, in Government House, Makurdi, on Sunday.

The governor’s declaration is also posted on his Facebook page.

“I will be running for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Mr Wike said on Facebook, on Sunday.

Mr Wike was quoted by Channels Television to have said that he is the one with the capacity to remove the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from power at the federal level.

“To remove APC from power, I’m the person who can tell them enough is enough. We must take this power and I’m ready to take it for the PDP. God is with us that’s why APC keeps failing every day.

“I’m declaring it for the first time in Benue (State). I’m going to run for election,” he said.

The Commissioner for Information in Rivers State, Paulinus Nsirim, did not respond to calls and text messages seeking comments from him.

Mr Wike’s declaration is coming after several months of speculation about his presidential ambition.

During Mr Wike’s recent feud with Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, the latter accused him of causing trouble in the PDP because of his presidential ambition.

“No one is against his desire to run for president, however, his ambition should not be embarked on in such a way that it would cause disruption at different levels, such as the PDP Governors’ Forum as well as different chapters of the party across the country,” Mr Obaseki said of his feud with Mr Wike.

Don’t run for president, Wike – IYC President

The President of the Ijaw Youth Council, Peter Igbifa, last year, told PREMIUM TIMES he suspected Mr Wike would want to run for president in 2023.

He had, however, advised him against nursing such ambition.

“I will not advise him (Wike) to run for president (in 2023). He can break the jinx, but then I wouldn’t want him to run for president. I would rather advise him to run for Senate.

“When (Peter) Odili was a governor, he thought he had more friends. But the day his body language showed he wanted to go to the presidency, he discovered he had more enemies than friends.

“Usually, the world does not always tolerate those who have resources to combine it with power, for the fear of the unknown,” Mr Igbifa.

Mr Wike is one of the most influential governors in Nigeria and very popular back home in Rivers because of his administration’s infrastructural development in the oil-rich state, but his often controversial remarks and actions may become his greatest setback in his presidential ambition.