Rivers State governor, Barrister Nyesom Wike has said that he is ready to replicate the infrastructural development ongoing in Rivers State in every part of the country if given the opportunity to lead the country.
Wike who on Tuesday night in Abuja at a parley with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly said with their support he can transform Nigeria.
The governor said he is not just in the race but will pursue the presidential ambitikn to win.
He told the lawmakers ” it is just not I want to contest election, no, I am coming not just to contest but to win the election. And I will be in front, I am not going to travel, I will be here because you must show leadership, I will be at the front, if they bullet, let it reach me first, that is what they call leadership.
“To manage Rivers State is not an easy thing. Suswan has come to commission projects, minority leader has come to commission projects, so many people, I have transformed Rivers State. Allow me this opportunity and see the way I will transform Nigeria, it will be unprecedented.
“To members of National Assembly who came to Port Harcourt, that job was awarded August last year, as I speak to you now, the best Law School Nigeria can ever have, well designed; from August till now that law school is almost ready. It shows you want to achieve something you can achieve it.
“Any project I cannot do and I cannot complete it, will never be in my budget. I don’t do something when I have no money. You have a road project from Nasarawa to Benue, it is going to cost for example 50billion then in the budget you put 500million, you don’t want to do the road project”.
If elected president, he said his administration will prioritize projects according to specific needs of every constituent in the country.
He said ” I don’t need to do all the roads, I can’t finish everything. Even if you give me president for 40years you can’t finish everyone of them. Take the ones you can do and let everybody know that you have done something. Go to the zones, you must identify what the government has done”
Wike promised to tackle obvious problems bedeviling the country, he said ” poverty does not know religion, insecurity does not know ethnicity. The poverty has ravaged Nigeria in the north and in the south, hunger everywhere, so why not get somebody that is prepared for this work, that is so energetic.”
Asking for support, Wike said “so I have come to solicit, give me your votes, don’t waste it, this is the man that will deliver. Some of you say some people don’t like you, must everybody like you, when everybody likes you then you have a problem.”
Senate Minority Leader and leader of PDP NASS Caucus, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe said Governor is an unusual person that the problems of Nigeria needs.
“We could not continue to do the same old things and expect that there will be a change, this is time to shock the system and let those who think outside the box come and take Nigeria from the morals that we have fallen into and I think that His Excellency, Nyesom Wike epitomises those that do unusual things”.
Abaribe on behalf of the lawmakers made passionate appeal to state governors on the platform of the party to see legislators as partners in deepening democratic parties rather than seen lawmakers as antagonists.
“Please have it in mind that the Governor’s Forum must sit with the Senate at the house and let us resolve our problems. I will like people to not use their executive positions against our members, that is my own view,” he said
On his own part House Minority Leader Jon. Ndudi Elumelu called for unity of purpose among the party’s presidential aspirants.
He warned against infighting while emphasizing the need for PDP to present it’s best candidate for the 2023 election knowing fully well that Nigerians are waiting earnestly for the party to rescue the nation from the misrule of the All Progressives Congress (APC).