As politician re-align for the next general election in 2023, Governor Nyesom Wike has predicted more defections will rock both the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All-Progressives Congress (APC) between now and December.
The governor said although defection is an inherent part of the democratic process, those who defected from the PDP lack integrity and character.
“People are defecting; More will defect. Defection is part of our electoral process. As you are defecting, people are coming in. There are those who are angry there (in APC), they’ll come (to PDP). You that are angry here (in PDP), you will go. That is the game,” the Governor stated.
He stressed that insinuation that some governors and others who have defected from PDP to APC were being intimidated, is not tenable and accused that those who have decided to jump ship lack conscience, character and integrity.
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. 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.”
He remarked that those who claim PDP has been unfair to them should also realise that the party had at different times wronged Rivers State, which accounts for its highest votes since 1999. But despite this, the state has remained steadfast and committed to the ideals of the PDP.