Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike welcomed hundreds of defections from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday.

Wike welcomes new members

PDP Chairman in Rivers, Desmond Akawor, former APC Board of Trustees member Sam-Sam Jaja, ex-Commissioner for Sports, Fred Igwe, and hundreds of supporters attended the event in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

Sylver Opusunju, Tele Bethram Ikuru, Princewill Dike, Reginald Onwuka, Bestman Amadi, Amadi Nnokam, Muma Gift, and Kennedy Ebeku are among the other former APC members who have defected.

Wike’s primary responsibility, according to him, is to ensure that all candidates in Rivers are elected next year.

“Rivers State comes first for me, before any other person or group,” Wike said.

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“All of you who have come back to the family, you have one role or the other to play for the emergence of our governorship candidate,” he added.

The governor stated that the defectors arrived at the right time, noting that the 2023 elections are “not for big men, it is not for those who will not return home to mobilize their people; they are only interested in being politicians away.”

Wike also said, “Politicians are (made) at home. I have changed the strategy of this election – no more big men. I am going for those who matter in their various units.

“All those who are decamping are those who you will not be hearing their names but they are the people who do the work. So, we have been plucking them back and all those so-called big men are threatened.”

Vote of confidence

The Herald had reported that Nyesom Wike, said that the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyorchia Ayu, will be ousted irrespective of the vote of confidence passed on him by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party.

Wike stated this on Saturday while mocking former National Chairman, Uche Secondus’ celebration of the vote of confidence passed on Ayu.

He spoke at a grand reception for scores of defectors from various political parties into the PDP at the Isaac Adaka Boro Park in Port Harcourt.

Wike reminded Secondus that it was not the first time that a National Chairman was ousted after a vote of confidence passed on him.

He added that the decision by NEC will not dissuade him and others from insisting that the prevailing structural imbalance within the party must be addressed.