“I can’t force myself to campaign for you when you have not asked”, Governor Nyesom Wike has repeatedly said since political maneuvers which may decide the future of the country peaked.
Wike has been insistent on this all through as he rallies the Rivers people as well as supporters of the G5 across the nation to vote for popular candidates.
“It is a fight to finish”, the Rivers strongman noted at Omoku in the Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area at the start of the state campaign of the PDP.
In Lagos, Kano, Gombe, Oyo, Plateau, Delta, Enugu, Bornu, Nasarawa and Imo to mention a few States, presidential candidates of all political parties are busy angling for popular support as they go from state to state.
The clock is ticking. Presidential candidates have barely 25 days to go to build alignments which would determine victory when voters file out of their homes.
But in Rivers where the presidential candidate of Labour, Peter Obi has campaigned; where the flagbearers of the PDP and the APC are yet to campaign; there are indications that Atiku’s path to victory in the oil rich state may be dimming.
There are candidates the people of Rivers State cannot afford to vote for, Wike has said again and again.
“If you love us, we love you. If you hate us, we hate you. If you push us, we push you”, Governor Wike stressed in the Ikwerre Local Government Area.
Given sharp disagreements between the candidate and the PDP establishment in Rivers State, analysts are beginning to posit that Atiku may not meet the 25% requirement in the State not to talk of putting Rivers State in the kitty.
The reason is not difficult to fathom. Wike has successfully decimated Atiku’s chances without appearing to do so directly.
Apparently, his messages are resonating with the people who are increasingly seeing Atiku as someone undeserving of their vote.
Addressing a large crowd of PDP followers who had gathered in Grand Old Bonny to listen to him the other day, Wike who has been on the campaign trail explained why Atiku is no longer an issue in Rivers politics.
The Governor told the people of Bonny, “These ones”, referring to Rivers PDP candidates that are on the ballot, “have told me. So, I’ve come here to campaign.
“If somebody asks you to work for him, you’ll work for him”, Wike remarked matter-of-factly, “But if they don’t want you to work for them, will you force them?”
No amount of intimidation and propaganda can cause a distraction from the political path that has been chosen by the people, Wike disclosed.
“I can’t force myself”, Wike re-emphasized, “Any person who says Rivers State is not important, we will pepper him. Anybody who says he doesn’t regard Rivers State, we would not regard.
“There’s nothing like propaganda, nothing like intimidation because nobody can intimidate us. We are very, very solid. We are very strong.
“No state can point at us to determine what will happen here. Nobody can do such. So, be bold to say, I’m from Rivers State, I live in Rivers and I am happy with Rivers. What is important is our State which we have collected,” he said.