Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has opened up on why he shut down the campaign office of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Port Harcourt.
It was widely reported that Wike ordered the closure of the Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign office located at GRA Port Harcourt in the early hours of Friday.
Explaining the reason for his action, Wike said the campaign office was sealed-off because those concerned did not get approval from the government.
The Governor said he evoked Executive Orders 21 and 22 to give legal support to the sealing-off of the campaign office. Wike disclosed this at the inauguration of the 17.2 kilometres-long Bori-Kono Road in the Baen community of Khana Local Government Area of the State.
According to him, “A few days ago, Maeba and Abiye went to Igboukwu Street, D-Line (Port Harcourt) without the approval of the government to site a political office.
“We are talking about Executive Orders 21 and 22 that have now been taken over by the law passed by the State House of Assembly. We did not send the chairman of Port Harcourt council to go and bring it (the building) down. We have the power.”
Wike has been at loggerheads with the PDP leadership and its presidential candidate over the failure of the party’s national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to resign his position to pave the way for a southerner.
Wike and his G-5 team (Five PDP Governors) are aggrieved with the PDP’s leadership due to the rotation of key positions in the party.
Recall that the nation’s main opposition party had PDP zoned its presidential ticket and the National Chairman to the North while sidelining the Southern part of the country. To this end, Wike and the integrity group have been agitating for the removal of Ayu as the PDP’s National Chairman.