Ahead of the 2015 governorship election,
elders in Rivers State have issued a seven-day
ultimatum to the Peoples Democratic Party to
withdraw its governor candidate, Chief
Nyesom Wike, from the governorship race.
The elders also asked President Goodluck
Jonathan to prevail on Wike to step down as
the governorship candidate before or on
January 5, 2015, in his (Jonathan) own interest
and other persons’ interest.
Speaking on the platform of the Rivers
Leaders and Elders’ Council, they maintained
that it was necessary for the PDP and the
President to take such a step in order to avoid
losing the governorship election in the state.
Chairman of the council, Chief Albert Horsfall,
who issued this ultimatum in Port Harcourt
on Monday, warned that the people of the
state would vote for only the political party
that presented a riverine person as their
candidate should Wike fail to withdraw from
the governorship race.
Horsfall specifically told leaders and elders
from the various ethnic groups in the state to
vote for the ‘next bigger’ political party that
presented a riverine person as their flag
bearer.
The group had appealed to various political
parties in the state to field a riverine person
as their governorship candidate.
About 15 out of the 24 governorship aspirants
are believed to have entered an agreement
with the state PDP to support Wike’s
governorship aspiration.
Horsfall cautioned that the people of the state
would not be bought over with money or be
intimidated into succumbing to injustice and
slavery for the next 50 years as a result of the
failure of the state PDP to embrace zoning of
the governorship position in the state.