Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has challenged Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State to a debate over the reasons he (Umahi) gave for defecting to the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Wike, during his appearance on Channel Television’s Politics Today, threw the challenge, adding he never stopped Governor Umahi from running for the 2023 presidency.
The Rivers Governor expressed disappointment over Governor Umahi’s actions in the build-up to his dumping the PDP and his claims that injustice reigns in the main opposition party and that there are more opportunities for consultations in the APC, among other things.
Wike said he understood Umahi’s comment to mean he (Umahi) has been working with the APC all along.
“If he has not been working with the APC, how will he know there is more room for consultation in APC than in PDP?
“The point remains that Umahi knows and I challenge him to a debate and I will tell him I am not saying that he shouldn’t be a president.
“Nobody is God to say who will be President and who will not be President. It is God.
“But the point everybody is making is ‘when did you consult Ohanaeze Ndigbo?’ ‘When did you consult the leadership of the South-East Peoples Democratic Party?’”
“This so-called injustice you are talking about; you were chairman of the party under PDP – there was no injustice. You were deputy governor under the party – there was no injustice. You were governor for four years before, there was no injustice.
“Now you are a second-term governor, you are realizing there is injustice for the presidency.
“Has PDP come out to say we are zoning Presidency to A or B for you now to say, ‘Yes, having done this against my people I will go here because these people have zoned it to us.’
“Since they have zoned it to us, I will move to that place (party) because I am a man that wants to fight for my people. So, on what basis can you now say there is injustice?”
