The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has denied reports that he nominated the Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi.
Wike made the clarification on a Channels Television programme “Roadmap 2019”.
An influential PDP chieftain, Wike masterminded the holding of the PDP National Convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, threatening dire consequences should it be moved anywhere else.
Despite this, Wike stated that he had no hand in Obi’s emergence as is being insinuated in some quarters.
The governor said, “I never nominated Peter Obi. But the mere fact that the Vice Presidential Candidate is coming from the South-East does not give the zone the sole right to nominate a person , since the entire country will benefit.
“When the South-East said they were not consulted before Peter Obi was nominated, where did we meet as a party to agree that the Vice Presidential Candidate must come from the South-East. But we said if the Presidential Candidate believes he has somebody to work with, we said so be it “.
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He also denied that the recent visit of four South-South governors to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa had a political undertone, saying it was merely to discuss the development of the Niger Delta.
Speaking on the continuous new minimum wage negotiations, Wike said, “I will never oppose the upward review of minimum wage for workers. But the revenue sharing formula must be reviewed. Assuming a state like Zamfara gets N3 billion monthly, and their monthly wage bill is N4 billion, then the state will not survive. Labour should understand the situation.’’
“You cannot talk of sustainable new minimum wage when you have not reviewed the revenue sharing formula. More of the money should be moved from the Federal Government to the states that bear the burden of governance. If there is no review of the revenue sharing formula, then we are not being fair.”